Editing Jefferson Davis (section)

===Seeking a livelihood===
Despite his financial situation after his prison release, Davis refused work that he perceived as diminishing his status as a former senator and president.{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=29}} He turned down a position as head of [[Randolph–Macon College]] in Virginia because he did not want to damage the school's reputation while he was under indictment.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=586}} In the summer of 1869, he traveled to Britain and France, but found no business opportunities there.{{sfn|Eaton|1977|p=263}} When the federal government dropped its case against him,{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=663}} Davis left his family in England and returned to the U.S. in October 1869 to become president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company in Tennessee. On his arrival to Tennessee, the [[University of the South]] offered him their top position, but he declined because the salary was insufficient.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=584–589}} Davis was not able to retrieve his family from England until August 1870.{{sfn|Davis|1991|pp=664–665}}

[[File:Jefferson Davis in Glasgow.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Photograph of Jefferson Davis in Glasgow ({{circa}} 1869)|alt=man sitting on bench in profile looking right holding top hat]]
Davis received numerous invitations to speak during this time,{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=665}} declining most.{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=21}} In 1870, he delivered a eulogy to Robert E. Lee at the Lee Monument Association in Richmond in which he avoided politics and emphasized Lee's character.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=216}} Davis's 1873 speech to the [[Virginia Historical Society]] was more political; he stated that the South would not have surrendered had it known what to expect from [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]],{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=21}} particularly the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|enfranchisement of African Americans]].{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=667}} He became a life-time member of the [[Southern Historical Society]],{{sfnm|Cooper|2000|1pp=621–622|Starnes|1996|2p=188}} which was devoted to presenting the [[Lost Cause]] explanation of the Civil War.{{sfn|Starnes|1996|pp=177–181}} Initially, the society had scapegoated political leaders like Davis for losing the war,{{sfn|Starnes|1996|p=178}} but eventually shifted the blame for defeat to the former Confederate general [[James Longstreet]].{{sfn|Starnes|1996|pp=186–188}} Davis avoided public disputes regarding blame, but consistently maintained he had done nothing wrong and had always upheld the Constitution.{{sfn|Davis|1991|pp=680–681}}

The [[Panic of 1873]] adversely affected the Carolina Life Company, and Davis resigned in August 1873 when the directors merged the company over his objections.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=594–596}} He went to Europe again in 1874 to seek opportunities to earn money, but was still not able to find any.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=598–600}} After returning to the United States in 1874, Davis continued to explore ways to make a living, including investments in railroads, mining,{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=666}} and manufacturing an ice-making machine.{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=21}} In 1876, he was offered the [[President of Texas A&M University|presidency]] of the [[History of Texas A&M University#Early years|Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas]]. He declined because Varina also did not want to live in Texas,{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=604–605}} recommending [[Thomas S. Gathright]] instead.{{sfn|Lane|1903|p=271}} He worked for an English company, the Mississippi Valley Society, to promote trade and European immigration. When he and Varina went to Europe again in 1876, he determined the company was failing. He returned to the United States while Varina stayed in England.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=608–609}}

Davis sought to reclaim Brierfield as well.{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=666}} After the war, Davis Bend had been taken over by the [[Freedmen's Bureau]], which employed former enslaved African Americans as laborers. After Davis's elder brother, Joseph, successfully applied for a pardon, he regained ownership of Davis Bend.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=572–573}} Unable to maintain it, Joseph gave his former slave [[Ben Montgomery]] and his sons, [[Isaiah Montgomery|Isaiah]] and William, a [[mortgage loan]] to buy the property.{{sfn|Hermann|1981|p=109}} When Joseph died in 1870, he had made Davis one of his [[executors]] but did not deed any land to him in the will. Davis litigated to obtain Brierfield.{{sfn|Hermann|1990|p=166}} A judge dismissed his suit in 1876. He appealed, and the Mississippi supreme court found in his favor in 1878. He foreclosed on the Montgomerys, who were in default on their mortgage. By December 1881, Brierfield was legally his,{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=628–629}} although he did not live there, and it did not produce a reliable income.{{sfnm|Cooper|2000|1pp=638–641|Davis|1991|2pp=666, 682}}