Editing Jefferson Davis (section)

==Planting career and first marriage==
[[File:Jefferson Davis Miniature2.png|thumb|upright|Miniature of Davis around age 32 ({{circa}} 1840)|alt=man looking left, tree in lower background behind him]]
Davis decided to become a cotton [[Planter class|planter]].{{sfnm|Cooper|2000|1p=68|Davis|1991|2p=71|Eaton|1977|3p=20}} He returned to Mississippi where his brother Joseph had developed Davis Bend into [[Hurricane Plantation]], which eventually had {{convert|1700|acre}} of cultivated fields with over 300 slaves.{{sfn|Hermann|1990|pp=49–54}} Joseph loaned him funds to buy ten slaves and provided him with {{convert|800|acre}}, though Joseph retained the title to the property. Davis named his section [[Brierfield Plantation]].{{sfn|Davis|1991|pp=71–73}}

Davis continued his correspondence with Sarah,{{sfn|Eaton|1977|pp=21–22}} and they agreed to marry with Taylor giving his reluctant assent.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=69}} They married at [[Beechland (Jeffersontown, Kentucky)|Beechland]] on June 17, 1835.{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=72}} In August, he and Sarah traveled to [[Locust Grove State Historic Site|Locust Grove Plantation]], his sister Anna Smith's home in [[West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana]]. Within days, both became severely ill with [[malaria]]. Sarah died at the age of 21 on September 15, 1835, after only three months of marriage.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=70–72}}

[[File:Slaves picking cotton on a Mississippi Valley plantation, 1857.jpg|thumb|[[Slavery in the United States|Slaves]] picking cotton on a [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] Valley [[Plantation complexes in the Southern United States|plantation]], 1857]]

For several years after Sarah's death, Davis spent much of his time developing Brierfield. In 1836, he possessed 23 slaves;{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=77}} by 1840, he possessed 40;{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=89}} and by 1860, 113.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=229}} He made his first slave, James Pemberton, Brierfield's effective overseer,{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=80}} a position Pemberton held until his death around 1850.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|p=229}} Davis continued his intellectual development by reading about politics, law and economics at the large library Joseph and his wife, [[Eliza Van Benthuysen Davis|Eliza]], maintained at Hurricane Plantation.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=83–85}} Around this time, Davis became increasingly engaged in politics, benefiting from his brother's mentorship{{sfnm|Cooper|2000|1pp=84–86|Davis|1991|2pp=90–92|Hermann|1990|3p=91}} and political influence.{{sfnm|Cooper|2000|1p=86|Woodworth|1990|2p=4}}