You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 54.163.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪Blablubbs‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider or colocation provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts and colocation providers may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host or colocation provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a colocation provider's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a colocation web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host or colocation provider (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host or colocation provider.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and requests should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 17:28, 10 March 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪Jon Kolbert‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: See the help page if you are affected .
- Start of block: 18:27, 12 November 2023
- Expiry of block: 18:27, 12 November 2028
Your current IP address is 54.163.179.242. The blocked range is 54.163.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((Short description|1881 book by Jefferson Davis))
((Essay-like|date=March 2011))
((Ref-improve|date=October 2017))
((Infobox book
| name             = The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government
| title_orig       =
| translator       =
| image            = Risefallofconfed01daviuoft 0001.jpg
| image_size       = 200px
| caption          = Cover of the first edition
| author           = [[Jefferson Davis]]
| illustrator      =
| cover_artist     =
| country          = United States
| language         = English
| series           =
| subject          = [[American Civil War]]
| genre            = History
| published        = 1881
| publisher        = [[D. Appleton & Company]]
| media_type       =
| pages            = 1,500
| isbn             = 0-306-80418-2
| oclc             = 424292
| dewey            = 973.713
| congress         = E487.D263
| preceded_by      =
| followed_by      = [[A Short History of the Confederate States of America]]
))

'''''The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government''''' (1881) is a book written by [[Jefferson Davis]], who served as [[President of the Confederate States of America]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Davis wrote the book as a straightforward history of the Confederate States of America and as an [[apologia]] for the causes that he believed led to and justified the American Civil War.

He wrote most of the book at [[Beauvoir (Biloxi, Mississippi)|Beauvoir]], the [[Biloxi, Mississippi]], plantation where he was living as a guest of the novelist and wealthy widow [[Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey|Sarah Ellis Dorsey]].  Ill with cancer, in 1878 she made over her will and left the plantation to him before her death in 1879.  She had already assisted him in his writing, notably with organization, editing, and encouragement.

Davis was also assisted by his wife, [[Varina Howell Davis|Varina]], and his secretary Major W. T. Walthall.  He corresponded voluminously with surviving Confederate statesmen and generals, including [[Judah Benjamin]] and [[Jubal Early]], for [[fact-checking]] and details on key issues.

==Publication==

The book was released in 1881 by the New York publisher [[D. Appleton & Company|D. Appleton & Co]]. in a two-volume edition totaling more than 1,500 pages and with many engraved illustrations.<ref>((Cite web |date=1881-09-01 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1881/09/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-confederate-government/632905/ |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=[[The Atlantic]] |language=en))</ref>

==Content==
What was compelling in the view of Davis's contemporaries and modern scholars was Davis's thoughtfully constructed arguments about the constitutional and moral justification of the formation of the Confederacy and of the Civil War.((CN|date=August 2020)) Davis made many comparisons between the formation of the [[Continental Congress]] and the [[American Revolution]] and the formation of the Confederate States and the American Civil War. He saw them as being little different ethically or politically, save that the former resulted in victory for the rebels and the latter in defeat.((CN|date=August 2020)) Davis discussed the history of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and defended its fundamental morality: in his view, slavery enlightened blacks with the "arts of peace, order and civilization" and slaves were happy and "contented" in their servitude.<ref name="disunion">((cite news |last=Blight |first=David |date=June 10, 2015 |title=Disunion: The Final Q & A |url= http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/disunion-the-final-q-a/ |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2015-10-03 ))</ref> Davis detailed his belief in the hypocrisy of Northern states with regard to slavery considering that most Northern states had once allowed slavery and that all derived income from trade goods produced by slaves, and the unfairness that he saw in the numerous acts and policies that benefited Northern industrialists to the detriment of Southern planters. Davis cited numerous constitutional passages, constitutional scholars, and American political leaders to support his thesis that secession was justified, including a speech by [[Abraham Lincoln]] that argued for the illegality of the [[Mexican–American War|American war with Mexico]] and condemned United States military interference with the rights of Mexicans to self-govern. Davis argued that when a majority of states govern the Union, it is "not as means to secure the welfare of all, but as instruments for the destruction of a part—the minority section."

==Reception==
Critical response to the book was and continues to be very mixed. The most lavish praise upon the book's release came from [[Southern United States|Southern]] reviewers. A more unexpected enthusiast was [[Oscar Wilde]], who pronounced it a masterpiece while admitting that he hadn't read it all.<ref>[https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/how-was-oscar-wilde-connected-to-the-american-civil-war "How was Oscar Wilde connected to the American Civil War?," ''Irish Central'', November 20,2018.]</ref> Most historians and literary critics agree that the book could have benefited from editing, as Davis spared little detail in describing every aspect of the [[Constitution of the Confederate States|Confederate Constitution]] and government, often in more detail than most readers cared for. He also retold in detail numerous [[List of American Civil War battles|military campaigns]] for which there were already many and superior sources (many written by generals and other veterans of the campaigns). Davis defended the detailed military accounts in the book by explaining that, unlike most nations, the entire history of the Confederate States of America was inseparable from the story of a war.((CN|date=August 2020))

By the time of the book's publication, the once-wealthy Davis was elderly, in ill health, and nearly penniless due to the destruction of his estates, the abolition of slavery, and the collapse of the Southern economy during and after the Civil War. He hoped the books would help him in rebuilding his fortune and providing for his family, but while exact figures are disputed, the book was a financial disappointment during his own lifetime for several reasons. It was expensive and thus beyond the reach of many Americans. Davis refused to go on publicity tours that might have aided sales, citing his poor health, his unwillingness to see Southerners pay money they could not afford, and his lack of interest in the book's reception by non-Southerners. Also, sixteen years after the end of the Civil War, interest had begun to wane in the subject, as a new generation of Americans who had not fought in the war became larger, and those who had fought were faced with contemporary problems that were more pressing than the past.((CN|date=August 2020))

The book was far from a complete failure, selling more than 22,000 copies by 1890,<ref>((Cite book |last=Hedtke |first=James R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HxqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |title=American Civil War: Facts and Fictions |date=2018 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-6074-4 |pages=7 |language=en))</ref> but it was never on par with such 1880s bestsellers as [[Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant|the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant]] or [[Mark Twain]]'s novel ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]''. In addition there was much contention between author and publisher: Davis had no prior experience in literary matters and had not signed a particularly generous contract. Davis claimed that Appleton was withholding his full royalties.((CN|date=August 2020)) D. Appleton & Co. stated that the advances disbursed to Davis during the book's writing had consumed most of his royalties for the first few years.((CN|date=August 2020)) Both sides seemed to suspect Major Walthall (who was out of Davis's employ by the time the book was released) of financial improprieties with the advances. Davis filed suit against the publisher in the final year of his life in a case later settled out of court by his heirs shortly after his death. The book remained in print, and subsequent cheaper printings assisted its sales in the decades following Davis's death. This provided some income for his widow in her final years, though her employment as an editorial writer and a modest income from rental of remaining family properties provided most of what financial comfort she enjoyed.((CN|date=August 2020))

==See also==
* [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy]]
* ''[[A Short History of the Confederate States of America]]'' by Jefferson Davis

==References==
((Reflist))

==External links==
((Wikisource|The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government))
((Gutenberg|no=19831|name=The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, volume 1))
((Gutenberg|no=42315|name=The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, volume 2))
* ((librivox book | title=The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government | author=Jefferson Davis))

((American Civil War))
((Portal bar|American Civil War|Books|Politics))
((Authority control))

((DEFAULTSORT:Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government))
[[Category:1881 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American Civil War memoirs]]
[[Category:D. Appleton & Company books]]
[[Category:History of the Confederate States of America]]
[[Category:Jefferson Davis]]
[[Category:Lost Cause of the Confederacy]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (edit)
Template:Abbr (view source) (protected)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:American Civil War (view source) (semi-protected)
Template:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Both (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:CN (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Catalog lookup link (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Template:Citation/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Citation needed (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite book (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite news (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite web (view source) (protected)
Template:DMCA (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (articles) (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Delink (view source) (protected)
Template:Essay-like (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:FULLROOTPAGENAME (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Fix (view source) (protected)
Template:Fix/category (view source) (protected)
Template:Gutenberg (view source) (extended confirmed protected)
Template:Gutenberg book (view source) (extended confirmed protected)
Template:Hlist (view source) (protected)
Template:Hlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:ISBN (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:ISBNT (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Icon (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox book (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Librivox book (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Longitem (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:Military navigation (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Navbox with collapsible groups (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Template:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Template:Plainlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Portal bar (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Ref-improve (edit)
Template:Reflist (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description/lowercasecheck (view source) (protected)
Template:Side box (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Sister project (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Template other (view source) (protected)
Template:WPMILHIST Infobox style (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Wikidata image (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Wikisource (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Template:Yesno-no (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Authority control/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Catalog lookup link (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Check isxn (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Delink (view source) (protected)
Module:Disambiguation/templates (view source) (protected)
Module:Find sources (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/links (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Icon (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Icon/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:InfoboxImage (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Italic title (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Librivox book (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:List (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Military navigation (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox with collapsible groups (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (protected)
Module:Portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/a (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/b (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/p (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal bar (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal bar/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Module:Side box (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Side box/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:TableTools (view source) (protected)
Module:Template wrapper (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:WPMILHIST Infobox style (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Wikidata (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Confederate_Government"