Jefferson Davis Inaugurated as Confederate President
Delegates in Montgomery, Alabama choose a provisional government for the new Confederacy
Quick facts
- Location
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Date
- February 18, 1861
- Title
- Provisional President, Confederate States of America
What happened
By February 1, 1861, seven Deep South states, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, had seceded and sent delegates to a convention in Montgomery, Alabama. On February 9 the convention unanimously chose Jefferson Davis, a Mississippi senator and former U.S. Secretary of War, as provisional president of the new Confederate States of America. Davis was inaugurated on February 18, 1861, on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol. He would later stand for a formal election under the permanent Confederate constitution and be inaugurated a second time, for a six-year term, on February 22, 1862, in Richmond, Virginia, which had become the Confederate capital after Virginia seceded in April 1861.
Why it matters
The Montgomery convention turned a set of individual secessions into a functioning rival government with its own president, constitution, and capital, which meant any resolution short of war would require Washington to either recognize Southern independence or force the Confederacy back into the Union.
How we know
The American Battlefield Trust's biography of Davis and National Park Service records document the Montgomery convention's vote and the inauguration date from contemporary Confederate government records.
Sources
- American Battlefield Trust. Jefferson Davis · Reputable sourcebattlefields.org · The domain "battlefields.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- National Park Service. Jefferson Davis · Reputable sourcenps.gov · The domain "nps.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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