Nicholas Davis Jr.
{{Short description|American politician}}
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{{Use American English|date=March 2018}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Portrait of Nicholas Davis, Jr.jpg
| name = Nicholas Davis Jr.
| office = Deputy from Alabama
to the Provisional Congress
of the Confederate States
| term_start = April 29, 1861
| term_end = February 17, 1862
| predecessor = David P. Lewis
| successor = Constituency abolished
| birth_date = {{birth date|1825|1|14}}
| birth_place = Athens, Alabama, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|1875|11|3|1825|1|14}}
| death_place = Huntsville, Alabama, US
| resting_place = Maple Hill Cemetery,
Huntsville, Alabama
}}
Nicholas Davis Jr. (January 14, 1825 – November 3, 1875) was an American politician who served as a Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from April 1861 to February 1862.{{cite book |editor-last=Root |editor-first=Elihu |editor-link=Elihu Root |date=1904 |title=Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 |url=https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcc.html |volume=I |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=159 |lccn=05012700}}
Biography
Nicholas Davis Jr. was born in Limestone County, Alabama, and served in the legislature in 1851. He was elected to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States to replace David P. Lewis and served in that capacity from April 1861 to February 1862.
He was unsuccessful in organizing his regiment during the American Civil War and served as lieutenant colonel of the 19th Regiment Alabama Infantry instead.[https://books.google.com/books?id=sPynb-OYaV8C&dq=Nicholas+Davis,+Jr.&pg=PA354 Welcome the hour of conflict: William Cowan McClellan and the 9th Alabama] / edited by John C. Carter. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2007, p. 354
Davis was a proponent and supporter of slavery in Alabama. In 1827, he was one of several signatories of "1827-01-08 Alabama Resolution Denouncing Emancipation of Slaves" that contended that slavery was a state's right's issue, and that the federal government did not have the authority to abolish the practice. An excerpt from the letter states:
″The select Committee [signatories]...on the subject of the abolition and general emancipation of persons of colour heled in solitude in the United States; having had the same under consideration, respectfully submit the following Report:
They conceive that the subject is one in which the States (where the evil complained of exists) are alone interested; that the frequent interference of the non-slave holding states in a matter so purely internal and domestic, is alike impolitic and incompatible with the rights and interest of the slave-holding states; and that the dictates of policy forbid the too frequent agitation of a question, which by the Constitution of the United States and of the several slave-holding states, is beyond the exercise of legislative control.″
The letter further states that the signatories disapprove with the ″entire emancipation of slaves″. {{cite web |url=https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=early_aa_history_me}}
A historical marker in Limestone County commemorates Davis' life and political engagement, but makes no mention of his support of slavery.{{cn|date=February 2025}}
References
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External links
- [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis6.html#036.11.14 Nicholas Davis Jr.] at The Political Graveyard
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{{succession box|title=Delegate from Alabama to the
Provisional Congress of the Confederate States|years=1861–1862|before=David P. Lewis|after=Constituency abolished}}
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Category:Alabama Secession Delegates of 1861
Category:American proslavery activists
Category:Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
Category:Members of the Alabama House of Representatives
Category:Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Alabama