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Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America

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Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederate States of America
November 6, 1861

Who was president during the Civil War? If you were from a Northern state, you answered Abraham Lincoln. If you were from a Southern state, you may have answered Jefferson Davis.

On November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president, not of the United States of America but of the Confederate States of America. He ran unopposed and was elected to serve for a six-year term. Davis had already been serving as the temporary president for almost a year.

How do you think President Lincoln, who had earlier been elected president of the United States, reacted to the Southern election?

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