Editing Jefferson Davis (section)

==Legacy==
{{See also|List of memorials to Jefferson Davis}}
[[File:Jefferson Davis, Slave Owner.jpg|thumb|The [[Jefferson Davis Monument (New Orleans, Louisiana)|Jefferson Davis monument]] in [[New Orleans]] with "SLAVE OWNER" graffiti, May 2004. It was dismantled in 2017.]]

Although Davis served the United States as a soldier and a war hero, a politician who sat in both houses of Congress, and a cabinet officer,{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=xiv}} his legacy is mainly defined by his role as president of the Confederacy.{{sfn|Eaton|1977|pp=274}} After the Civil War, journalist [[Edward A. Pollard]], who first popularized the [[Lost Cause]] mythology,{{sfn|Connelly|Bellows|1982|pp=2–3}} placed much of the blame for losing the war on Davis.{{sfnm|Cooper|2008|1p=2|Starnes|1996|2p=6|Vandiver|1977|3p=3}} Into the twentieth century, many biographers and historians have also emphasized Davis's responsibility for the Confederacy's failure to achieve independence.{{sfnm|Cooper|2008|1pp=3–5|Vandiver|1977|2pp=3–6}} Since the second half of the twentieth century, this assumption has been questioned. Some scholars argued that he was a capable leader, while acknowledging his skills were insufficient to overcome the challenges the Confederacy faced{{sfnm|Thomas|1998|1pp=40–43, 57|Vandiver|1977|2pp=16–18}} and exploring how his limitations may have contributed to the war's outcome.{{sfnm|Cooper|2008|1p=89|McPherson|2014|2pp=247–252}}

Davis's standing among white Southerners was at a low point at the end of the Civil War,{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=15}} but it rebounded after his release from prison.{{sfn|Connelly|1977|p=76}} After Reconstruction, he became a venerated figure of the white South,{{sfnm|Goldfield|2002|1pp=28–29|Hunter|2000|2pp=186–187, 204–205|Simpson|1975|3pp=352–354}} and he was often depicted as a [[martyr]] who suffered for his nation.{{sfnm|Foster|1987|1pp=96, 122|Hunter|2000|2pp=197–198|Rubin|2005|3pp=200–201}} His birthday was made a legal holiday in six Southern states.{{sfn|Foster|1987|p=249 fn 21}} His popularity among white Southerners remained strong in the early twentieth century. Around 200,000 people attended the unveiling of the [[Jefferson Davis Memorial (Richmond, Virginia)|Jefferson Davis Memorial]] at Richmond, Virginia, in 1907.{{sfnm|Collins|2005|1pp=146–147|1ps=|Foster|1987|2pp=158–159|2ps=: Collins states 200,000 people attended; Foster estimates between 80,000 and 200,000.}} Mississippi officials honored him with [[Statue of Jefferson Davis (U.S. Capitol)|a life-size likeness]] in the [[National Statuary Hall]] at the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] in 1931.{{sfn|Architect of the Capitol|2016}} In 1961, a centennial celebration reenacted Davis's inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama, with fireworks and a cast of thousands in period costumes.{{sfnm|Connelly|1977|1p=113|Cook|2007|2pp=79–82}} In the early twenty-first century, there were at least 144 Confederate memorials commemorating him throughout the United States.{{sfn|Southern Poverty Law Center|2022|pp=10, 36}}

On October 17, 1978, Davis's U.S. citizenship was posthumously restored after the Senate passed [[Joint resolution|Joint Resolution]] 16. President [[Jimmy Carter]] described it as an act of reconciliation reuniting the people of the United States and expressing the need to establish the nation's founding principles for all.{{Sfn|MacDonnell|1994|p=119–133}}{{sfn|Carter|1978}} However, Davis's legacy continued to spark controversy. In the twenty-first century, most historians agree that Davis's participation in the Confederacy constituted treason.{{sfn|Larson|2020|pp=117–121, 129–131}} His memorials, such as the [[Jefferson Davis Highway]], have been argued to legitimize the [[white supremacist]], slaveholding ideology of the Confederacy,{{sfn|Hague|Sebesta|2011|pp=291–295}} and a number have been removed, including his statues at the [[University of Texas at Austin]],{{sfn|Associated Press|2015}} New Orleans,{{sfn|Associated Press|2017}} Memphis, Tennessee,{{sfn|Matisse|2017}} and the [[Kentucky State Capitol]] in Frankfort.{{sfn|Blackburn|2020}} After the [[murder of George Floyd]] in May 2020, protesters toppled Davis's statue on his Richmond monument along with [[List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|the statues of other figures]] considered [[racist]]s.{{sfn|Atuire|2020|p=457}} As part of its initiative to [[Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials|dismantle Confederate monuments]], the Richmond City Council funded the removal of the statue's pedestal,{{sfn|Associated Press|2022a}} which was completed in February 2022, and ownership of its artifacts was given to the [[Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia]].{{sfn|Associated Press|2022b}}