Jefferson Davis

Alexus Moore Jefferson Davis was a complicated man who accomplished a lot during his lifetime. Many historians debate about the kind of man this Confederate President was; whether he was a man of many ideas or just an insecure man who just did what he was told. This man, whom many call an “enigma,” went through life looking up to great men and always doing what those men thought was best (pg. 4, line 5). The three essays written by William C. Davis tell a story of Jefferson Davis’s life and in the pursuit of trying to understand the great man William Davis showed three main reoccurring themes. Those three themes that really showed what kind of person Jefferson Davis was, was his insecurity, indecisiveness, and his short temper. Jefferson Davis showed is insecurity in many ways like in his inability to admit when he was wrong and his inability to get along with men of which he would consider himself equal in intellectual ability. William Davis mentioned that Jefferson Davis only really got along with women and African American slaves (pg. 10, line 7). This shows how much his need was to be the best and most intelligent in every aspect of his life. He got along with women and African American slaves because they were not as educated on most subjects as he was so he never had to debate with them and they always found him interesting. This is how badly insecure Jefferson Davis was of his own ability. Even with his second marriage to a Varina Howell showed his insecurities because they fought all the time because of Jefferson Davis’s need to be correct all the time. William Davis noted that the only reason Varina and Jefferson’s marriage lasted as long as it did was because “Varina finally was willing to subordinate her own strong will to her husband’s” (pg. 10, line 5). William Davis says on page thirteen, line seven on that page that Jefferson Davis “presents a consistent portrait of insecurity,” and “indecisive, sensitive, to criticism, obstinate, unable to