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4th President of the Confederate States | |
| Predecessor | Judah P. Benjamin |
| Successor | Alexander H. Stephens |
| Vice President | Albert G. Brown |
| Born | January 21, 1824 Clarksburg, Virginia, US |
| Died | December 13, 1889 (aged 65) Lexington, Virginia, CS |
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – December 13, 1889) was a Confederate general and statesman who served as the 4th President of the Confederate States. He is best remembered for his involvement in winning the Southern War of Independence and the Mexican-Confederate War, and for his infamous visit to the United States on July 4, 1876.
Early Life[]
Military Career[]
Southern War of Independence[]
Jackson served under General Robert E. Lee during the Southern War of Independence, mostly fighting in the Eastern theater. He was considered a military genius and won many battles, being integral to the victorious war effort. His leadership was vital in the victorious battles of Gettysburg and Alexandria, the latter battle being the one that ended the war in a Confederate victory.
Between Wars[]
For the first time since the war began, Jackson returned to his home in Lexington. He was overjoyed to be back with his family, but peace was hard to find. He had become a massive celebrity, the most famous hero of the war, rivaled only by Lee. People immediately began urging Jackson to run for president. Jackson, a stoic man who was always uncomfortable being the center of attention, was not fond of the idea. For the 1867 election he deferred to Lee, his senior both militarily and in age.
Lee became president and the two men maintained their friendship. While Jackson visited Lee on a regular basis at the capital, the two rarely discussed politics.
In the five years between wars, Jackson devoted much of his time to teaching courses at military colleges.
Mexican-Confederate War[]
Jackson was called back into service for the Mexican-Confederate War. President Lee put Jackson in charge of the entire war effort. The two men collaborated closely by telegram, discussing strategy at every turn of the war. Jackson personally commanded the Eastern Campaign in Mexico, working his way down the Mexican East Coast and eventually closing in on Mexico City. At the end of the war, the victorious Jackson was personally congratulated by President Lee in a public ceremony at the Confederate White House. Unfortunately, Lee died a few weeks after the war's end, an event which deeply upset Jackson.
Return from Mexico[]
Jackson did not take much joy from his role in the Mexican-Confederate War. He felt that the disorganized, warring opposition was not an equal opponent for the Confederate armies as the Union had been in the war of independence. At this time, he began to feel remorse for all the violence and disunity he had a hand in causing over his military career. He resolved to devote the rest of his life to spreading peace.
The general switched his focus to preaching and teaching the illiterate, including slaves. Jackson remained the most famous person in the Confederacy. People continued to constantly ask him if he would run for president or any political office. In 1872, for the first time, he was contacted by a major political figure to discuss such a topic- Jefferson Davis. Davis and the incumbent president, Judah P. Benjamin, both aimed to avoid the rise of political factionalism in the country. They believed that the best chance at this was getting Jackson to run for the nation's highest office.
Jackson repeated his apprehension. Davis asserted his belief that Jackson would be a fine leader of the country, certainly having a more measured approach than the stubbornly radical politicians in Congress.
Jackson came to believe that becoming president was a divine mandate from God. He knew he wouldn't enjoy the endeavor, but he knew that he could keep the country on the right course and continue Lee's unfinished legacy in the office. In early 1873, he announced that, if selected by the people, he would serve. Allies worked to get his name on the ballot in every state.
His election seemed certain. Unexpectedly, a challenger did emerge in the form of Alexander H. Stephens. Stephens believed that the general presidents were leading the country in the wrong direction. He took advantage of Jackson's noncommittal campaign announcement to present himself as merely an alternative for election, rather than a direct competitor to the beloved general.
Seeing Jackson's name on the ballot was enough for most, and he won an easy election over Stephens. He began to prepare for his inauguration.
Presidency[]
Jackson took over the presidency from Benjamin in a grand ceremony in Richmond. Jackson was seen as a stronger and more popular leader to begin with than Benjamin, who had only risen to the presidency because of Lee's death. This was despite Benjamin having far more experience serving in government.
Portrait of Jackson as president, c. 1878
President Jackson's first few years in office were peaceful and uneventful. He continued almost all of the policies of his predecessors and made few headlines. He put an emphasis on his faith, stating that he wished for all Americans to unite into one Christian people. His statements were not seen as anything radical at the time, but would become controversial due to his later actions.
The main issue that was facing the Confederacy at that time was the constant escaping of slaves across the Confederate border into the US. While Jackson was no ardent defender of slavery, he considered it his duty to uphold the laws of his nation, and this meant trying to solve the escape problem. His vice president, Albert G. Brown, wanted war in order to force the US to return the fugitive slaves. Jackson, however, realized the ill effects that another war would have on his country. Instead, he decided to try to negotiate a deal with the Union. He knew that US President Pendleton wanted to make peace with the Confederacy and thought that the two men could make a mutually beneficial deal. A channel of communication was set up, and a deal was struck: in exchange for the return of escaped slaves to the Confederacy, Jackson would visit the US for the American centennial in 1876. Jackson expected the people of both nations to celebrate the gesture of unity.
When announced, however, the deal caused mass outrage in both the Confederacy and the Union. The fugitive slave issue had been controlled, but Jackson's opponents accused him of "kneeling before the North" just a decade after independence was won. The president himself never understood the outrage. Yes, he had fought on the front lines during the war of independence, but he never held true animosity for his opponents. He still retained friends in the US military. To him, it was ridiculous to hold such a massive grudge years after the war was over. Even in the face of criticism, Jackson upheld his end of the deal and appeared in public with President Pendleton on July 4, 1876. That image caused even further outrage in the South and directly caused the formation of the Southern Party by Stephens, Brown, and others.
The Southern Party quickly won majorities in Congress and began passing laws to undo the legacy of Jackson, Lee, Benjamin, and Davis, but the president vetoed them all. He spoke out strongly against the formation of political parties in the South - privately he spoke of outlawing them altogether with a constitutional amendment - and became fiercely opposed to the Southern Party. He privately derided them as inflammatory rabble who wished to lead the South into ruin because of petty anger. This was the first time he felt he had a personal stake in politics.
Jackson's cabinet had been carefully selected to represent all ends of the country's political spectrum. With disunity now in the open, some cabinet members rebelled against the administration in various ways. President Jackson removed the agitators and replaced them with men he considered to be more reasonable and loyal.
The price of cotton continued to fall during Jackson's term. His administration urged plantations to consider switching to other, more stable cash crops. For the first time, it was beginning to become more profitable to start a new industrial venture with slaves than to start a new plantation with slaves. Jackson's presidency thus saw the beginning of the first major wave of industrialization in the South, a trend that the Southern Party resented and would try to suppress.
As the end of his term neared, Jackson met with Davis and Benjamin to decide which candidate they would endorse in the 1879 election, with the group eventually settling on fellow former general James Longstreet. Stephens ran again as the candidate of the Southern Party. Jackson feared the prospect of a President Stephens and did what he could to ensure Longstreet's victory. Longstreet would lose by a slim margin to Stephens. Jackson agonized over the thought of his legacy being undone and the Confederacy turning inward as the Southern Party advocated. Shortly after Stephens' inauguration, the Confederate Party was formed to push the ideals established by the first four Confederate presidents. Out of respect for his idea of a party-free Confederacy, Jackson never joined the party formed to uphold his legacy.
Post-Presidency[]
The disgruntled Jackson returned home to Lexington. He spent his time meeting with old friends, including some that lived in the US. He took it upon himself to support Lee's family when needed.
Even though he tried to focus on other things, primarily religious matters, Jackson found himself unable to keep his mind off politics. His private letters included frequent rantings about the governance of Stephens and the Southern Party. While he never officially joined a political party, he did support and help fund the Confederate Party, especially in the presidential election of 1885. Jackson was greatly relieved when Augustus Hill Garland won the presidency in that year, and he occasionally advised the new president on military matters.
Jackson never officially freed most of his slaves, but he did treat them much better than the majority of slave owners in the Confederacy, granting them the privilege to live almost as free individuals. One of the slaves, George, successfully escaped to the United States in 1886. It is still debated whether this was a genuine escape attempt or if Jackson endorsed and aided the action. The federal government at the time was laying increased scrutiny on emancipation of slaves and assisted escape was one option to avoid complications.
Always a man that had numerous health issues, the former president took a turn for the worse in 1888. He experienced a brief period of recovery in the summer of 1889 before finally dying on December 13, only 7 days after the death of Jefferson Davis. Both men were honored throughout the Confederacy with masses of mourners and ceremonies in every state.
Legacy[]
Despite his political controversy, Stonewall Jackson remains revered in the Confederacy as one of its principle founding figures and greatest military commanders the nation ever produced. He is seen as integral to the nation successfully winning its independence.
At the same time, he is remembered as someone who was unsuited to the role of president. He wasn't particularly charismatic or willing to take a significant role as a public leader. He was inexperienced in the political realm and the diplomatic realm, having no formal education, and he struggled to mend fences and maintain connections well enough to effectively govern. He never considered himself a politician and he never acted much like one. Instead, he preferred to put an emphasis on faith, encouraging his nation to live an upright Protestant lifestyle. Having never paid much attention to politics as a private citizen, he was perhaps out of touch with the will of the average Confederate, leading to his poorly received actions with Pendleton in 1876.
Defenders of his presidency say that he always had the country's best interests in mind and was a pragmatic leader. He brought a military discipline to the executive branch that not even Lee had matched, expecting his cabinet to perform their duties to the best of their abilities at all times. His administration was notably free of corruption.
Overall, Jackson is remembered as a generationally great general and a poor president. His reputation as a founding figure of the Confederacy is unassailable, and he remains widely known in the country to this day.
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