Jefferson Davis Leaves the U.S. Senate
Just weeks after his home state of Mississippi seceded from the Union, U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis prepared to leave Washington, D.C., and the country he had served as a soldier, cabinet member and member of Congress. On January 21, 1861, Davis and five other Southern senators made emotional farewell speeches. One more time, Davis enumerated the reasons why the South felt secession was its only recourse: ‘…when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a Government which…threatens to be destructive to our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence….’ Davis then apologized to any senators he may have offended, and finished his address by saying, ‘…it only remains for me to bid you a final adieu.’
Image: World History Group Archives
