Jefferson Davis’s Farewell Address to the U.S. Senate was delivered on January 21, 1861, less than two weeks after the Mississippi legislature voted to secede from the Union. To fully understand Davis and his importance during the critical period of the American Civil War, it is important to place him in the context of the time in which he lived and understand what led him and millions of other Americans to support the Confederate cause. For most of the 1850s Davis was the spokesperson for the southern cause in the Senate and a strong supporter of states’ rights, including the right to own people as slaves. The resolution he offered the Senate on February 20, 1860, represents a last-ditch effort on his part to unequivocally assert the southern cause, articulating positions from which the South would not retreat. These demands marked the death knell of Democratic unity, setting forth demands that were unacceptable to northern Democrats. Upon notification of the vote of the Mississippi legislature that the state formally seceded from the Union, Davis had to make a choice between his state and the Union. He also realized that any hope of an amicable solution was over. His resignation speech demonstrates why he chose to side with his state.