There have been a lot of articles and editorials published regarding the initial lack of interest in commemorating Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ birthday bicentennial. That ‘other’ president’s 200th birthday is also this year and of course he will deservedly get the spotlight, but I argue that Davis also deserves some respect and even in some cases, admiration. In fact, in some areas of political policy, Davis was actually more inclusive than his adversary. Here is an excerpt from 'The Southern Cross' devotional in the courage category:

But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:6)

PROTESTANT PRESIDENT: Jefferson Davis was an American statesman who was appointed as the President of the Confederate States of America, for its entire history (1861 to 1865) during the American Civil War. A man of humble origins, he began his formal education at a small, one-room, log cabin school in the back woods of Mississippi. Two years later, his family moved and he entered the Catholic school of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory, which was operated by the Dominican Order of Kentucky. At the time, Davis was the only Protestant student in the entire institution, but his own acceptance, as well as an introduction to a different denomination, made a lasting impression on the Episcopalian. Later, as a West PointDavis prided himself on the military skills he had gained in the Mexican-American War as a colonel in a volunteer regiment and as U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. After rising to the highest chair in the newly established Confederate government, Davis made a concerted effort to bridge the spiritual and social gaps between citizens of different faiths. During the 19th Century, Catholics and Jews were often held in contempt and discriminated against by the country’s Protestant majority. President Davis did not share this sentiment and following his appointment to power, he set a precedent when he assembled the first administration in American history that included Protestants, Catholics and Jews. This courageous decision went against all previous political practices and ultimately sent shockwaves through all of the county’s governing bodies, as not even his contemporary, Abraham Lincoln, had appointed anyone other than Protestants to a high office. In his article Jefferson Davis, Religion and the Politics of Recognition, D. Jason Berggren stated that, “Davis practiced the politics of recognition by appointing individuals identified with persecuted religious minorities. In this regard, contrary to conventional wisdom, Jefferson Davis was a remarkable president, a president ahead of his time.”

[Davis has also been said to have been the greatest and most influential Secretary of Defense in U.S. History.]