Jefferson Davis

“All we ask is to be let alone.”

“We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence.”

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”

“I love the Union and the Constitution, but I would rather leave the Union with the Constitution than remain in the Union without it.”

“If the Confederacy falls, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a theory.”

“A government is just only when it obtains the consent of the governed.”

“I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not.”

“Truth crushed to earth is truth still and like a seed will rise again.”

“Lay aside all rancor, all bitter sectional feeling, and to make your places in the ranks of a reunited country.”

“The past is dead; let it bury its dead, its hopes and its aspirations; before you lies the future.”

“Obstacles may retard, but they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained by a virtuous people.”

“Never be haughty to the humble; never be humble to the haughty.”

“Government is instituted to protect property of every kind.”