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6th President of the Confederate States | |
| Predecessor | Alexander H. Stephens |
| Successor | Augustus Hill Garland |
| Vice President | None |
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4th Vice President of the Confederate States | |
| Predecessor | Albert G. Brown |
| Successor | John Tyler Morgan |
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26th Governor of Louisiana | |
| Predecessor | John McEnery |
| Successor | Francis T. Nicholls |
| Born | May 28, 1818 St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, US |
| Died | February 20, 1893 (aged 74) New Orleans, Louisiana, CS |
| Political Party | Independent (1858-79, 1885-86), Southern (1879-85), Reform (1886-90), Confederate (1890-93) |
Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893) was a Confederate military officer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Confederate States.
Early Life[]
Military Career[]
Later Military Service and Entry into Politics[]
Beauregard as a military leader
Beauregard remained in military service up to and through the Mexican-Confederate War, where he expected to be appointed a large force of his own to command. Instead, former president Jefferson Davis was granted control of the Western Campaign in the war, and Beauregard was relegated to commanding troops in the Eastern Campaign under Stonewall Jackson. He felt that it was yet another in a long series of personal rebuffs by the Confederate government and Davis in particular. Personal conflicts with his superior during the war led to him being reassigned to the Central Campaign under James Longstreet. Altogether, the war experience left him bitter, as he felt once again that his skills and services were disrespected simply because the other prominent leaders personally didn't like him. He left the military soon after this, using the success of the war to boost his entry into Louisiana politics. He was able to win election as governor, centering his agenda on the improvement of the state economy and extending the vote to all free citizens of the state. Louisiana had long had a system prohibiting the lower classes from voting, a practice which Beauregard considered unjust. However, since most of the state's influential individuals were aligned against this reform, he was unable to make any of his desired changes.
The general's ultimate goal in politics was always to become president- he watched with some degree of envy as Lee and Jackson won easy elections to that office, boosting their already grand legacies even further. Long feeling like he had taken a backseat to the more prominent generals, in war and peace, he was eager to attain the country's most powerful position and prove to be a great leader in his own right. Beauregard wanted to run for president in 1879 with the endorsement of Davis and President Jackson's nonpartisan faction. They, however, preferred James Longstreet and gave the endorsement to him. Spurned once again by the two popular figures, Beauregard turned his sights to the other major faction in the country. Wanting a former general to run on their ticket as vice president, the Southern Party reached out and offered the nomination to the governor. After a day of consideration, he accepted. In the election, Stephens and Beauregard barely defeated Longstreet, and the former general was now vice president.
Beauregard didn't do much as vice president. He hoped to keep a clean profile and do his job well, which would hopefully lead to him earning the Southern Party presidential nomination in 1885. His degree of alignment with Southern Party policies has been regularly debated even to the modern day. It is known that he initially considered the party to be the party of the common people and the poorer classes. He accepted the party's fervent support of slavery and pacifism. Other than this, he kept his political beliefs to himself and did not speak out much as vice president. He wasn't involved in the administration's decision making process, mostly being used in ceremonial displays of support for the military. Everything changed when President Stephens died on October 14, 1883.
Presidency[]
Beauregard had hoped that Stephens would make it to the end of his term, although he knew that the president was in poor health. Now Beauregard was thrust into being president, which was his end goal but still a less than ideal situation for him. He wanted the validation of running for president himself and being elected to serve a full term. Now, it was unclear if he'd even be eligible to run for a full term, as the Confederate constitution said that presidents were not "re-eligible" for the role, though it wasn't clear if this applied to vice presidents who rose into the office.
Immediately, some white Anglo Southerners were uncomfortable with the idea of having a French Creole as their president. They felt that he may not represent their interests and cultural aims. The Southern Party defended him in party materials as a great Southern military leader on par with Lee, Jackson, and others. Political opponents attacked him as foreign and as a covetous womanizer who lacked the manhood to lead the country.
The new president hoped to win the full support of his party so that he could win the presidential nomination in 1885. He had inherited a very poor situation from Stephens, as the Panic of 1883 rippled from the US economy into the South. Stephens had initially framed it as a panic that only affected wealthy businessmen and bankers, however, by the time of his death, the common folk were starting to feel its effects. As 1884 began, farmers across the country were beginning to fall into a spiral of debt. As the self-described agrarian party, the Southerners were expected to do something about it. Their initial response was to inflate the money supply and make it easier for farmer's to repay their debts. Congress passed a bill to increase the minting of silver currency and reintroduce greybacks, federal notes not backed by any metallic standard.
Beauregard was conflicted. He wished to endear himself to his party by staying in step with their agenda. On the other hand, however, he personally believed that the bill went a step too far in introducing two new inflationary monetary standards at once. He was also pressured by his personal friends and business associates from New Orleans who believed that the bill would be harmful to the economy overall. The president decided to use a line item veto on the greyback provisions, limiting the bill to introducing new silver currency. This was the first major use of the line item veto in Confederate history.
The veto put Beauregard at odds with his party's representatives in Congress. They failed to override his veto but began work on a new bill to reintroduce greybacks. As the economy continued to falter and he felt immense pressure from his party, Beauregard relented and signed the greyback bill into law in fall 1884. He hoped that this would allow him to begin winning support for the party's upcoming national convention. He also advocated for other relief measures that would help keep plantations and farms from failing. These proposals failed to garner much support, much to the frustration of the president and poor farmers throughout the Confederacy.
The party remained unwilling to embrace President Beauregard for several reasons. He was seen as a weak-willed caretaker president following Stephens, unsuited to the political arena and too arrogant to compromise. His Creole character raised concerns over his nationwide electability. His greyback veto had caused a rift between him and the rest of the party. Lastly, the party was concerned with questions over his eligibility. Though a more widely popular president may have been able to overcome any challenges to his legitimacy in such a case, Beauregard was not seen as that president. He still tried to garner support for the party convention, although he wasn't very successful. He won a little over 100 delegates on the first ballot and dropped from there. The nomination went to Senator Zebulon Vance.
Beauregard reached his breaking point with this rejection. Personal aides and friends later said that he became uncharacteristically angry upon hearing of Vance's nomination. He felt that, despite everything he had offered for the good of his country over his entire life, they had continually rejected him in every possible manner. The day after the convention, Beauregard notified leadership that he was withdrawing from the party. This news shocked observers and voters across the country. Beauregard became the first and so far only independent president in the age of Confederate party politics.
Analysts speculated that Beauregard may run for president as an independent in 1885. The president did indeed consider this but eventually decided against it. He shifted his focus to advancing his own policy and building up a new base of popular support outside the existing political parties. At the top of his agenda was direct economic relief for farmers, loosening of economic restrictions for industry, and extension of the vote nationwide to every free citizen. He also called for the end of any slavery-related taxation, particularly Stephens' tax which punished factories for making use of slaves in their work.
Beauregard was the ultimate lame duck president and received almost no support for any of his proposals. He now suffered attacks from both major parties, particularly on his heritage and personal integrity. The Southern Party portrayed him as being in the pocket of big business and wealthy urbanites. The Confederate Party widely publicized his exit from their rival party, although they continued their attacks on his policy and character. Beauregard supported no candidate in the election but was privately satisfied to see Confederate Augustus Hill Garland emerge victorious.
While mostly unpopular, Beauregard did win some admiration among the lower classes for his relentless championing of their causes during the last year of his presidency. He handed off the office to Garland and returned to Louisiana. He did not plan for this to be the end of his involvement in politics.
Post-Presidency[]
Beauregard immediately began making plans for a new political party that would oppose both of the mainstream ones. He contacted old military friends, business associates, and friendly political colleagues to organize the formation of what he would call the Reform Party. This party echoed Beauregard's wishes for a more modern Confederacy. Its flagship goal was extending the vote to all citizens. Over time, it also came to be more openly business-oriented, advocating for less hostile economic conditions for industry, improvements to infrastructure, and a more stable monetary system.
The party picked up unexpected momentum, first in Louisiana and then across the country, mainly in urban and industrial areas. It became competitive in Louisiana governor elections and won leadership of New Orleans. Overall, the party was more centralized, better funded, and better organized than the two already existing parties. It won some seats in the national House of Representatives, largely representing urban districts.
The mainstream parties felt threatened by this movement, the first to openly represent the interests of city dwellers and industrialists in the South. The Confederates were especially threatened as they drew much of their support from cities which were now starting to vote Reform. They wished to avoid having to compete with the Reform Party in a presidential election and so opened negotiations for a potential merger.
Beauregard was receptive but insisted that the Confederates adopt the major Reform Party platform planks into its own platform. The Confederates agreed to begin advocating for a constitutional amendment that would extend the vote to all citizens as well as more openly support business interests. Beauregard found this acceptable and agreed to a merger that went into effect in 1890. A constitutional convention was called for the purpose of creating this amendment. Beauregard advocated for it to extend the vote to all free citizens regardless of race, drawing upon his interactions with the Black Creole community which had never been enslaved. However, the amendment passed in a limited form with nonspecific language that would allow states to exclude Black voters if they wished. Every state did so.
Beauregard died of heart problems in February 1893. His amendment was ratified by the states a few months later, becoming the First Amendment to the Confederate Constitution. He opted for a funeral at home in Louisiana which was well attended and celebrated by locals.
Legacy[]
G.T. Beauregard certainly has one of the most complex legacies for any politician or general in Confederate history. His lasting legacy is fighting for the poor masses and extending the vote to every white Confederate citizen, an important step forward for popular representation in government. His Reform Party would continue its movement into the Confederate Party, which openly adopted its policies of modernization in the early 20th Century. Despite being a largely ineffectual and indecisive president, Beauregard has left a lasting impact on the political and cultural scene of the country. His presidency and national popularity led to more acceptance for his Creole community in Confederate society. In modern times, he is largely seen as a resolute man who was willing to fight for his beliefs even if it went against the conventional wisdom. Some historians have challenged this view, however, asserting that his political philosophy changed often and in large ways to align with whatever group accepted him at the time. It was only near the end of his life that he gave up trying to appease the other powerful men in society and attempt to forge his own path. Beauregard has drawn comparisons to John Tyler, another president who was originally a vice president chosen for electoral reasons only, later rose to the presidency unexpectedly, and then became estranged from his own party while in office. Beauregard died largely satisfied with his legacy and no longer focused on whatever slights he may have suffered in the course of serving his country.
Overall, Beauregard is considered an important founding figure of the Confederacy for his contributions to military success and later political reform. The only French Creole president, he is an ever-important figure in the Louisiana Creole community.
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