Book Review: The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson The New York Times

Table Of Content

• Alabama Department of Archives and History
• The 1861 Confederate presidential election and the relocation of the Confederate capital
• There is more to the Civil War
• The American Civil War Museum – Appomattox
• Montgomery, Ala
• The formerly enslaved lawmaker who warned about rewriting Black history
• The election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession crisis

See the evolution of the Davis Executive Mansion from its being built to today, as well as the people who lived and worked within its walls. Just prior to Richmond’s fall to U.S. forces, the Davises left the house and fled south. After the Union army marched into Richmond, Major General Godfrey Weitzel set up his headquarters in the home on April 3, 1865. The next day, President Abraham Lincoln spent about two hours in the house, meeting with Weitzel and others.

Alabama Department of Archives and History

The Costs of the Confederacy History - Smithsonian Magazine

The Costs of the Confederacy History.

Posted: Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:07:39 GMT [source]

The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1960, was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1966, and was added to the Virginia Landmark Register in 1969. When the Museum of the Confederacy completed construction of a purpose-built museum building in 1976, the collections and exhibits were moved to the new building. When they moved in, the family consisted of the president and first lady, six-year-old Margaret, four-year-old Jefferson Davis, Jr., and two-year-old Joseph. The two youngest Davis children, William and Varina Anne ("Winnie"), were born in the house, in 1861 and 1864, respectively. Among their neighborhood playmates was George Smith Patton, whose father commanded the 22nd Virginia Infantry, and whose son commanded the U.S. Joseph Davis died in the spring of 1864, after a 15-foot fall from the railing on the house's east portico.

The 1861 Confederate presidential election and the relocation of the Confederate capital

The state maintains the house and grounds, whereas the WHA owns and maintains the objects inside and manages the house. The nominees for the 2024 Tony Awards were announced Tuesday morning to celebrate the best shows and biggest talents on Broadway. Tony-winning performers Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry hosted the nominations, with six of the categories unveiled first on "CBS Mornings."

There is more to the Civil War

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina, and their children moved into the house in August 1861, and lived there for the remainder of the war. President Davis maintained an at-home office on the second floor of the White House due to his poor health. A newer building to better preserve and exhibit the museum's collections was built and opened in 1976 adjacent to the White House, on its remaining 0.75-acre (3,000 m2) property. The anchor of the first ironclad warship, CSS Virginia, which fought the USS Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, was displayed in front of the museum. Davis’s second inauguration took place in the Virginia capital on February 22, 1862, on a bleak, cold, rainy day—a sombre occasion as the president looked out on a sea of black umbrellas and read his address.

The American Civil War Museum – Appomattox

Reeves and lawmakers could choose to start down a path of rectification — remedying some of the ills of policies designed to keep certain Mississippians disenfranchised and destitute. But even if Reeves remains stubborn, the legislative branch wields enormous power, too. Mississippi’s state holidays are codified, and lawmakers have the power to divorce Mississippi from a century-old practice of honoring Confederates and their cause.

The effect of the Wilmot Proviso was to centre antislavery thought on the issue of “free soil.” Ignoring slavery where it was already established, the call for “free soil” sought only to prevent its expansion into the territories of the West. Abolitionism had not yet achieved widespread popular support, because its demand for immediate uncompensated emancipation was too radical for many property-conscious Americans. However, “free soil,” the lowest common denominator of antislavery feeling, had broad popular appeal. Passed by the House and rejected by the Senate in three successive years, the Wilmot Proviso would spur the creation of the short-lived but influential Free-Soil Party.

In 1857, the house served as the home of the family of a local mill owner named Lewis D. Crenshaw. Crenshaw renovated and decorated the house in the way that it appeared when the Davis family moved in in 1861. During the war, the house functioned as both an official residence and a family home. There was a staff of twelve to fifteen enslaved and free servants, some of whom lived on the property. At least three of the enslaved individuals—James Pemberton, Betsey, and Robert Brown—were brought to the house by the Davises.

The deadlock between the two houses lasted more than a year, during which time the nature of slavery was thoroughly debated. Finally, in March 1820, Speaker of the House Henry Clay secured passage of an acceptable compromise. The District of Maine was separated from Massachusetts and permitted to enter the Union as a free state, Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and slavery was excluded from the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′. The White House of the Confederacy served as the social center of the Confederacy, and was the official residence of Jefferson Davis’ family. His wife, Varina Davis entertained family and friends and held receptions for the city of Richmond.

The election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession crisis

New Mexico and Utah would obtain territorial governments with popular sovereignty, enabling citizens to decide for themselves the slavery issue. The bill also compensated Texas for the loss of New Mexico and prohibited the slave trade (but not slavery) in the District of Columbia. Over the next four decades, sectional tension would continue to grow in spite of a series of “compromises” that attempted to balance the demands of the North and the South. In August 1846, shortly after the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, Pennsylvania Rep. David Wilmot offered an amendment to a routine appropriation bill that would bar slavery from any territory gained as a result of that conflict.

Mr. Crenshaw offered his house, complete with all its furnishings, to the city for just under $43,000. In August 1861, Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina, and their three young children moved in. Although the WHA had found funding and an ally in the governor, the complicated task of actually moving the house to its new location had to be addressed. The structure was first photographed from all four sides and detailed plans were made of the interior. The building was subsequently divided into three sections and each board was marked and disassembled.

It remains the only private residence of a head of state open to public visitors without an admission charge. The original architect, Irish-born James Hoban, was appointed to rebuild the house, and President James Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright, took residence in 1817. The first president, George Washington, chose the location in 1791, but never lived there. The Museum of the Confederacy was founded by Richmond's society ladies, starting with Isabel Maury, who was later joined by Ann Crenshaw Grant and Isobel Stewart Bryan. Isabel Maury was the founder of the Museum of the Confederacy but she also was the first Regent of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society (CMLS).

Several of the enslaved workers seized their own freedom during their time at the White House of the Confederacy. The White House of the Confederacy is a historic mansion located on the corner of 12th and Clay Street in the city of Richmond. During the four years of the American Civil War, this house was the official residence of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America.

They can pass legislation ending Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday in April. They can sever Robert E. Lee from the annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. on the third Monday of January. And they can let Memorial Day exist on its own as a federal holiday without doubly venerating Jefferson Davis on the same day. This line also helps dispel the myth of the “compassionate slaveowner,” as it clearly indicates how slave-owning Mississippians viewed the enslaved — as a calculated asset in their ledgers, as a dollar figure, as potential lost property. It’s not the 435,000-plus enslaved Mississippians who are subject to degradation, but rather the wealthy, white ruling class.