A War of Words: The Rhetorical Leadership of Jefferson Davis - Hardcover

Atchison, R. Jarrod

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0817319409 ISBN 13: 9780817319403

Verlag: The University of Alabama Press, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

A rhetorical analysis of Jefferson Davis&;s public discourse

Numerous biographies of Jefferson Davis have been penned; however, until now, there had been no substantive analysis of his public discourse as president of the Confederacy. R. Jarrod Atchison&;s A War of Words uses concepts from rhetorical theory and public address to help answer a question that has intrigued scholars from a variety of disciplines since the collapse of the Confederacy: what role, if any, did Davis play in the collapse of Confederate nationalism?
 
Most discussions of Davis and nationalism focus on the military outcomes of his controversial wartime decisions. A War of Words focuses less on military outcomes and argues instead that, in the context of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis&;s rhetorical leadership should have been responsible for articulating a vision for the nation&;including the core tenets of its identity, the values the nation should hold dear, the principles it should never compromise, and the goals it should set for its future. Undoubtedly, Davis possessed the skills necessary to make a persuasive public argument. It is precisely because Davis&;s oratory skills were so powerful that there is room to judge how he used them. In short, being a great orator is not synonymous with successful rhetorical leadership.
 
Atchison posits that Davis&;s initial successes constrained his rhetorical options later in the war. A War of Words concludes that, in the end, Davis&;s rhetorical leadership was a failure because he was unable to articulate a coherent Confederate identity in light of the sacrifices endured by the populace in order to sustain the war effort.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

R. Jarrod Atchison is an associate professor of communications at Wake Forest University.

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A War of Words

The Rhetorical Leadership of Jefferson Davis

By R. Jarrod Atchison

The University of Alabama Press

Copyright © 2017 University of Alabama Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8173-1940-3

Contents

Acknowledgments, 
Introduction, 
1. Decorum in Davis's Resignation from the Senate, 
2. Civic Republicanism in Davis's Inaugural Address, 
3. Amplification in Davis's Defense of Conscription, 
4. Conspiracy Rhetoric in Davis's Response to the Emancipation Proclamation, 
5. Pragmatism and Desperation in Davis's Push for Conditional Emancipation, 
Conclusion, 
Notes, 
Bibliography, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Decorum in Davis's Resignation from the Senate

"They recognized in him (Lincoln) the representative of a party professing principles destructive to 'their peace, their prosperity, and their domestic tranquility.' The long-suppressed fire burst into frequent flame."

— Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government

With the flames of secession fanning throughout the South, Jefferson Davis found himself in a troubling situation. He was a senator from Mississippi who had risen to national prominence to become one of the central spokespersons for the South, but he was also an outspoken critic of the rash and unorganized manner in which secession was unfolding. Despite his initial objections, Mississippi had seceded and left Davis with little opportunity to continue his role in the Senate. Davis was, however, given one last opportunity to capture the attention of his colleagues through his resignation speech.

In twelve paragraphs, Jefferson Davis officially resigned from the Senate in what Hudson Strode considers "one of the most moving and eloquent speeches in American history." Davis was courteous, succinct, and passionate. As James G. Blaine remarked, "no man gave up more than Mr. Davis," because "for several years he had been growing in favor with a powerful element in the Democracy of the free States, and, but for the exasperating quarrel of 1860, he might have been selected as the Presidential candidate of his party." Given the scope of his national prominence and influence, Davis's resignation was a topic of conversation throughout the nation, which made his speech more complicated than a simple goodbye. The speech was delivered with a simple topical construction: an introduction that announced his resignation, a description of his obligation to the state of Mississippi, a concise explanation of the theory and legal arguments for secession, an elucidation of the complete and total sovereignty of Mississippi, and a plea for peaceful relations. The initial simplicity of the speech vanishes with a closer inspection of Davis's rhetorical struggle to thwart the justifications for a military response to secession through an early articulation of his vision for a peaceful separation. That separation, according to Davis, was not only justified, legal, and timely but should be peaceful because of the shared history between North and South and the character of the people of the South.

The End of Equivocation

By 1860, Davis had bolstered his position as a spokesperson for the South by attacking Stephen Douglas's theory of popular sovereignty. He had adopted the uncompromising position that the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford had secured Southerners' rights to take slaves into the Western territories. Douglas's theory of popular sovereignty allowed for the possibility that the people in the Western territories would vote to ban slavery, a position that was intolerable for Davis and other senators from the cotton South. In the buildup to the election of 1860, these attacks played a crucial role in the sectional divide within the Democratic Party. Davis hoped to present a unified Democratic front in the election of 1860, but the uncompromising nature of the attacks meant that he could not support Douglas as the sole nominee of the party. Davis, therefore, stumped for the Southern nominee for the Democratic Party, John Breckinridge, who was the vice president under James Buchanan. Like Davis, Breckinridge defended a proslavery platform in direct opposition to Douglas.

Throughout the fall of 1860, Davis continued his attacks on Douglas in the name of helping elect Breckinridge to the presidency. Despite his efforts to focus the conversation on Breckinridge, Davis was increasingly confronted with the question of secession. The uncompromising nature of Davis's position on slavery made it difficult for him to dismiss secession as an option of last resort. Rather than answering the question, Davis chose to invest his rhetorical resources in supporting Breckinridge while equivocating on secession.

The election of 1860 forced Davis to reconcile his theoretical position with the realistic prospect of secession. While Douglas's theory of popular sovereignty may have resulted in slavery being outlawed in the territories, Abraham Lincoln's Republican platform supported the complete prohibition of slavery in the Western territories. In the wake of Lincoln's victory, the South looked to Davis for guidance and the North looked to him to assess the likelihood of secession. Both audiences turned to Davis as one of the spokespersons for the South.

Between Lincoln's election in November and Davis's resignation in January, Davis continued to vacillate in his support for secession. In the period immediately following the election, Davis argued for reconciliation and compromise. He told a leading secessionist from South Carolina, Robert Barnwell Rhett Jr., that he doubted that his home state of Mississippi would even consider secession much less follow South Carolina's lead in actually departing from the Union. Davis was surprised when he found out how much support for secession actually existed within Mississippi and how fast secession conventions were being called throughout the South. He was even more surprised at the attitude of his fellow representatives at a special meeting called by the governor of Mississippi, John Pettus, to discuss the prospect of Mississippi's secession. According to William Davis, "For the first time ever, he found himself consistently in the minority and consistently outvoted." Davis opposed the governor's recommendation for an immediate special legislative session. Not only did the governor ignore Davis and call the session but he also asked Davis to act as his envoy and represent his position in support for immediate secession. Davis declined the governor's request, but the message was clear — secession was coming to Mississippi whether Davis supported it or not.

Davis was not present for Mississippi's special legislative session. President James Buchanan had asked Davis to return to Washington to help him construct his last annual message to Congress. Before he left, Davis reiterated his objections but stated that he would follow the decision of the Mississippi legislature. Buchanan's address, meanwhile, failed to satisfy the North or the South. The ensuing Senate debate over its publication generated a more aggressive response from Davis, who found himself increasingly upset at the provocations of his Northern counterparts. William Davis argues that he "abandoned the ... cautious role he had been playing for the past few months and stepped forward at least into the second rank of the fire-eaters." In the heat of the argument, Davis declared, "Before a declaration of war is made against the State of which I am a citizen, I expect to be out of the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: The University of Alabama Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0817319409
• ISBN 13: 9780817319403
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 119
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar