Mexican–American War

the Mexican–American War. As a plantation owner, he employed slave labor as did many of his peers in the South, and supported slavery. He served as Secretary of War and U.S. senator, arguing against secession, but agreeing that each state had the right to secede. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Davis was chosen as President of the Confederate States. He took personal charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to defeat the larger, more powerful and better organized Union. He is often blamed for contributing to the fall of the Confederacy. His diplomatic efforts failed to gain recognition from any foreign country and he paid little attention to the collapsing economy. At the end of the war in 1865, he was captured and imprisoned; after his release he entered private life. He wrote a memoir, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, eventually became a Civil War hero to many white Southerners and, in later life, encouraged reconciliation with the North. (Full article...)

Recently featured: Belle Vue Zoological Gardens – Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell) – Jane Joseph

Archive – By email – More featured articles...

In the news

Peter Mutharika is elected President of Malawi.

The leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus sign a treaty to form a Eurasian Economic Union.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (pictured) is elected President of Egypt.

Ignatius Aphrem II is enthroned as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.

American author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou dies at the age of 86.

Petro Poroshenko is elected President of Ukraine.

In motorsport, Ryan Hunter-Reay wins the Indianapolis 500.

Ongoing: Ukrainian conflict – Balkan flooding

Recent deaths: Wojciech Jaruzelsk

...