President of the Confederate States of America

• 1. Introduction

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  Jefferson Davis took the oath as president of the Confederate States on the 18th of February 1861. He would be the only person in history ever to hold that title. The Confederate States was an unrecognized breakaway republic, and its president pledged to "faithfully execute the office of President of the Confederate States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution thereof." No foreign government ever recognized the nation that oath was meant to serve. How did a government the world refused to acknowledge design a working executive branch? And what happened to the man still claiming that office when the institution finally collapsed around him?

• 2. Powers of the Office

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  Article II of the Confederate States Constitution placed executive power in the president's hands. His authority covered a broad range of duties. He commanded the Army and Navy, made treaties with Senate consent, and appointed judges and diplomatic officers. He could grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the Confederate States. The president could convene or adjourn either house of Congress under extraordinary circumstances. He was required to receive foreign ambassadors and recommend legislation. He also commissioned all officers of the military and naval forces of the Confederate States.

  The line-item veto set the Confederate president apart from his counterpart in Washington. This power was normally reserved for state governors in the United States. Under the permanent Confederate constitution, the president could strike individual spending provisions from a bill without rejecting the whole legislation. Davis never exercised this authority before the Confederacy's military collapse ended the presidency itself.

  During Senate recesses, Davis could fill vacant positions. There was one firm constraint: he could not reappoint anyone the Senate had already rejected.

• 3. Two Inaugurations

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  On the 9th of February 1861, the provisional congress at Montgomery unanimously chose Davis as president. Alexander H. Stephens, a delegate from Georgia, was selected as vice president on the same day. Stephens was inaugurated on the 11th of February. Davis had gone to Mississippi upon his resignation from the United States Senate. He arrived and took his own oath of office shortly after.

  Davis and Stephens were limited to a single term each under the permanent Confederate constitution. They won their six-year terms in an election held on Wednesday, the 6th of November 1861. By then, the capital had moved from Montgomery to Richmond in June of that year.

  The second inauguration took place at the statue of Washington on Capitol Square. The date was the 22nd of February 1862, marking the formal start of the permanent Confederate government. The Confederate president reached office through an Electoral College rather than a direct popular vote. He and the vice president were the only two officers elected on a national basis across the entire Confederate government.

• 4. The Executive Residence

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  In 1861, the Confederate presidency carried an annual salary of CS$25,000. The compensation also included an expense account and a nontaxable travel account. The president's working office occupied the second floor of the Custom House on Main Street in Richmond. That same building housed the Cabinet Room, the State Department, and the Treasury Department.

  The City of Richmond purchased a private residence, the Brockenbrough House, and offered it to the Confederate government as an executive mansion. Davis declined to accept it as a direct gift. Instead, the property was leased for his personal use. It came to be known as the "White House of the Confederacy" or the "Grey House." Davis lived there until Richmond fell to the Union Army in early April 1865.

• 5. Dissolution

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  On the 5th of May 1865, the Confederate States cabinet declared the Confederacy dissolved. That date is generally considered the day the Confederate States of America and its presidency were formally abolished. Davis stopped attempting to exercise the office's powers and duties after that declaration. Five days later, elements of the United States Cavalry captured him.

  The mansion outlasted the government it served. After the war, it held documents, relics, and pictures from the Confederate era. In 1896, it was redesignated the Confederate Museum.