Editing Jefferson Davis (section)

====National policy====
[[File:Jefferson Davis and his cabinet2, published by Thomas Kelly, New York.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Colorized print of Jefferson Davis and his first cabinet with General [[Robert E. Lee]], published by Thomas Kelly (1897){{efn|From left to right: [[Stephen Mallory]], [[Judah P. Benjamin]], [[LeRoy Pope Walker]], Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, [[John H. Reagan]], [[Christopher Memminger]], [[Alexander H. Stephens]], and [[Robert Toombs]]{{sfn|Neely|Holzer|Boritt|1987|pp=185, 247}}}}|alt=Six men sitting around a table looking forward, one man, Robert E. Lee, is standing up pointing toward a map]]
Davis's central concern during the war was to achieve Confederate independence.{{sfnm|Cooper|2008|1p=82|McPherson|2014|2p=10}} After [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia seceded]], the [[provisional government]] of the Confederacy moved the capital to Richmond.{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=336}} The Confederate federal government had almost no institutional structures in place,{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=703}} lacking an army, navy, treasury, diplomatic missions, and bureaucracy.{{sfn|Cooper|Terrill|1991|p=358}} Davis had to work with the Confederate Congress quickly to create them.{{sfn|Hattaway|Beringer|2002|pp=42–45}}

Though Davis supported states' rights, he believed the Confederate constitution empowered him with the right to centralize authority to prosecute the war. He worked with the Congress to bring military facilities in the South, which had been controlled by the states, under Confederate authority.{{sfn|Escott|1978|pp=54–55}} Confederate governors wanted their states' militia available for local defense. Davis knew he needed to deploy military forces to defend the Confederacy as a whole and [[Confederate States Army|created a centralized army]] that could enlist volunteers directly.{{sfn|Escott|1978|pp=55–57}} When soldiers in the volunteer army seemed unwilling to re-enlist in 1862, Davis instituted the first [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|conscription]] in American history.{{sfnm|Cooper|2008|1p=38|Roland|1991|2p=106}} He received authorization from Congress to suspend the [[habeas corpus|writ of habeas corpus]] when needed.{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=73–74}} In 1864, he challenged property rights by recommending a direct 5% tax on land and slaves,{{sfn|Hattaway|Beringer|2002|pp=272–273}} and implemented the impressment of supplies and slave labor for the military effort.{{sfnm|1a1=Escott|1y=2009|1pp=159–156|2a1=Hattaway|2a2=Beringer|2y=2002|2p=47}} In 1865, Davis's commitment to independence led him to even compromise slavery when he advocated for allowing African Americans to earn their freedom by serving in the military.{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=228–231}} These policies made him unpopular with states' rights advocates and state governors, who saw him as creating the same kind of government they had seceded from.{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=536}}