Jefferson Davis was elected president of the new CSA. Before that, he lived a interesting life. He fought in the Mexican-American War, he was a senator, a member of the House of Representatives, and he was Secretary of War. Surprisingly, Jefferson Davis was against the secession even though he believed that states had the right to secede and spoke to both the North and the South for peace. He grew up as the son of a rich farmer, and naturally was well educated. In my opinion, Jefferson Davis was similar to Thomas Jefferson: he was very contradictory.