was Jefferson Davis guilty of treason?

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was Jefferson Davis guilty of treason?

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No.
There is a reason he wasn't tried.

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was Davis a traitor?

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Yes. The victor is the hero and the loser is a traitor. Thus is the way of all rebellions. The victor writes the history books.

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Should he have been prosecuted and hanged?

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Not if the North wanted to avoid angering the South. Thankfully they didn't go that route and went with the much more peaceful act of forgiveness.

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And since many here are southerners, how do you think the north views him?

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As they view all southerners. Traitors and rebels.

Its more likely that most northerners wouldn't even know who he was though.


On another note, I still believe the South was completely within its rights to leave the union.

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I can't speak for the Midwest but I think the revolution left a stronger imprint on New England.

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A majority of people nowadays can't name their own senator, let alone name the president of the CSA.

And yes, I am somewhat exaggerating.

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was Jefferson Davis guilty of treason?

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Absolutely, yes.

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Should he have been prosecuted and hanged?

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I think he should have been prosecuted, sentenced to death, but then had his sentence commuted to life by the president.

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how do you think the north views him?

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The few that do think about it probably think it's odd that a treasonous terrorist is still lauded in many parts of the south.

"I think he died in New Orleans in 1889 if memory serves me correctly, but someone can double check that."

He did die in New Orleans and you walk right by the house in which he died. It is not far from the shops and restaurants on Magazine Street.

"Anyway, was Davis a traitor?"

I say that he was not because in our federal system, especially as it existed before the Civil War, states are sovereign bodies and he remained loyal to Mississippi. By way of analogy, the break-away states from the USSR almost certainly had/have leaders who previously served in the Soviet Union. While Davis, for better or ill, chose Mississippi over the Union, he was not a traitor. (I would say the same about Southerners who chose the Union over their home states. Not traitors).

"Was he a hero?"

Difficult to say. From the accounts I have read, he was brave in the face of pursuit by federal forces, but ultimately, the secession of the Southern states was too motivated by the desire to extend the institution of slavery for me to regard him as a hero even if I admire him in some respects.

"Should he have been prosecuted and hanged?"

No. Many were on the losing side and I am not aware of anything Davis did as president of the Confederacy to merit such punishment, especially if you wanted to reunify the nation after the war.

Random, but very cool.

Thanks for posting that!

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was Jefferson Davis guilty of treason?

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I don't think so.

My family used to own his home

I'm sure the North knows nothing of his past and his quite full and colorful life but instead see's him as the racist face of a bunch of slave holders.

Davis was NOT a traitor. To bring him up on thoses charges would have been a losing case. Perhaps more creative charges could have been brought but after two years most wanted to avoid any further contemplation of his case for various political reasons.

There is much I admire about the Jeff Davis before his selection as president of the CSA. But his actions and words during the conflict became more and more extreme and lessed what i considered to be a honorable man.