08 LC
95 0197
Senate
Resolution 915
By:
Senators Bulloch of the 11th, Tolleson of the 20th, Thomas of the 54th, Williams
of the 19th, Hooks of the 14th and others
A
RESOLUTION
Recognizing
the bicentennial birthday of Jefferson Finis Davis and declaring 2008 as the
"Year of Davis"; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis was born to Georgia Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Emory
Davis and Jane Cook Davis in Christian County, Kentucky, on June 3, 1808;
and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis attended the United States Military Academy at West Point
on the appointment of President James Monroe, graduating in 1828;
and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis entered politics and was elected to the United States
Congress as a Representative in 1845; and
WHEREAS,
in June, 1846, he resigned his seat in the House of Representatives to establish
a regiment that would become the 1st Mississippi Volunteer Rifles;
and
WHEREAS,
he was appointed by the Governor of Mississippi to fill a vacancy in the United
States Senate in August, l847; and in January, 1848, the legislature unanimously
elected him Senator and reelected him in 1850 for a full term; and
WHEREAS,
he was named chairman of the Senate committee on military affairs, and went on
to serve as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce; and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis returned to the United States Senate in March, 1857, and
served until he resigned when Mississippi seceded on January 9,1861;
and
WHEREAS,
on January 21, 1861, Senator Jefferson Davis took formal leave of the United
States Senate in a speech in which he defended the cause of the South and, in
closing, begged pardon of all whom he had ever offended; and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis was elected to a six-year term as President of the
Confederate States of America, serving from 1861 until 1865, leading a new
nation at war; and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis held the last Confederate cabinet meeting in Washington,
Georgia, on May 4, 1865; and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis was captured by the United States Calvary outside the town
of Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865; and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis would visit the State of Georgia numerous times after the
war for celebrations, dedications, and reunions; and
WHEREAS,
Jefferson Finis Davis died on December 6, 1889, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and
returned to Georgia one final time on his 1,200 mile funeral train trip to
Richmond, Virginia, and became the first and only president to lie in state at
the state capitol in Atlanta on May 29, 1893; and
WHEREAS,
on December 16, 1897, the State of Georgia enacted a law making Jefferson Finis
Davis's birthday a state holiday; and
WHEREAS,
on August 18, 1905, the General Assembly created and named Jeff Davis County in
his honor; and
WHEREAS,
on June 3, 1939, the State of Georgia established the Jefferson Davis Memorial
State Historic Site in Irwinville, Georgia.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body do hereby
declare that 2008 shall be known as the "Year of Davis" and encourage Georgia
citizens to organize, publicize, promote, and attend any appropriate observances
and commemorations in celebration of this event.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed
to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the Georgia divisions of
the Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and
Children of the Confederacy.