Born on June 3rd, 1808 in Christian County, Kentucky, less than a hundred miles from where future U.S. president Abraham Lincoln was born eight months later, Jefferson Finis Davis grew up to change American History. Davis was the tenth and youngest child of Samuel Davis, who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and his wife Jane Cook Davis. Davis was inspired by his eldest brother, Joseph, to be well educated. As a result, when the family moved to Mississippi, Davis returned to his home state of Kentucky to attend a boarding school in Bardstown. After the completion of his schooling he studied at Jefferson College in Mississippi, followed by attending Transylvania University in Kentucky. Davis attended West Point, the U.S. Military Academy, graduated twenty-third out of thirty-four in his class in 1828 and was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment in Wisconsin. Here Davis served briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832, but missed most of the war due to illness.

While stationed under Colonel Zachary Taylor (future president of the United States) Davis met Taylor's daughter, Sarah. Davis married her in 1835 against her father's wishes. What could have been a wonderful relationship story quickly turned sour. The couple came down with bad cases of malaria only three months after the wedding, which resulted in the young bride's death. Davis lived a secluded life for the next eight years on his cotton plantation at Davis Bend, Mississippi. As a slaveholder, Davis believed strongly in the importance of slavery in the South. In 1845, Davis married his second wife, Varina Howell. Jefferson and Varina Davis went on to have six children - two girls and four boys. Only their daughters would live into adulthood.

In the same year of his second marriage, 1845, the people of Mississippi sent Davis to the U.S. House of Representatives. His Congressional term was short, however. He left the House in June 1846 to fight in the Mexican-American War where he led troops at the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista. For Davis' service, he was offered a promotion to brigadier general in 1847, but refused when he was elected into the U.S. Senate. In the Senate, Davis argued for both slavery and states' rights. Davis was one of the leading opponents of California's admission to the Union as a free state.

In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Davis as the U.S. Secretary of War. As the U.S. Secretary of War, Davis served with distinction and was recognized as one of the most capable administrators to hold the office. In 1857, Davis returned to the Senate where he was an incredibly vocal proponent of states' rights. When talk of secession filled the Senate Chamber, Davis joined the "Committee of Thirteen" and sought compromise to avoid war. Davis continuously argued for states' rights, but also argued that secession was not the best option. However, when Mississippi left the Union, Davis resigned, because he felt a loyalty to both old ideals and his people of Mississippi. When Davis spoke for the last time in the Senate on January 21st, 1861, he stated that Mississippi had reached its decision because, "we are about to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us,"(United States Senate).

Roughly one month after his resignation from the Senate, Davis learned the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama, selected him to become the provisional President of the Confederacy. Davis much preferred to be in the Confederate military, but he accepted the newly created position. Davis was inaugurated for a six-year term as President on February 22 of the following year. Davis was chosen largely as a compromise, meant to appease both the moderate and radical factions in the Confederate Congress.

Davis executed the position of the presidency in the Confederacy to the best of his ability, and he oversaw the military operations and public support. Davis created enemies and problems both in the Congress and in his own military leadership. Davis suspended many liberties, same as Lincoln, in order to win the war. Davis imposed taxes and regulations to manage the economy and support the war effort. He also confiscated private property and imposed martial law.

At the end of the war, Davis was captured on May 10, 1865 by Union cavalry near Irwinville, Georgia, and was imprisoned for two years at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Davis was indicted for treason, but never tried. Davis and his family traveled around Europe before returning to the American South. The family lived in Tennessee, and then moved back to Mississippi, the people of which wanted Davis to serve in the Senate again, but because Davis never requested an official pardon from the United States he could not. Davis wrote about his experiences during the Civil War, which was titled "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government".

Davis was invited to Callaway County, Missouri, to speak at an Agricultural and Mechanical presentation at the fair grounds in Fulton, Missouri. Davis initially declined the invitation to speak at the fair grounds, but he later accepted the invitation after the date of the fair was moved. A committee was sent to meet Davis in St. Louis and to escort him to Fulton. Davis met Attorney General Hockaday, Honorable J. W. Boulware, and J. B. Williams. On the route to Fulton, Davis was met with adoring crowds of people, who cheered when he rode past. In Mexico, Missouri, Davis had to remove himself from any demonstration due to the great numbers of people who wanted to see the former President of the Confederate States of America. Like in Mexico, the people of Fulton crowded the fair grounds. Davis was in poor health, but because so many people wanted to see him, he was asked to speak the following day. Davis agreed, and he stayed at Attorney General Hockaday's home in Fulton, Missouri.

Davis arose the next day ready to speak to his "friends of Callaway." Shortly after breakfast, an estimated 10,000 people arrived on the fair grounds to see Mr. Davis speak. Due to the great number of cheering, clapping, and overall noise, Governor Hardin asked the crowd to remain silent.

Davis stood to speak, saying, "Mr. President and Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen, and my Friends of Callaway: I would that it were possible for me to say anything as acceptable to you as that once familiar shout I heard this morning was to me; that ring of the American voice which, of whatever political party it is, is enough to strike terror into the heart of anybody except an American." Davis was confused about who was, in fact, the King of the Kingdom of Callaway. However, he would go on to state that he already found the king: "...the only majesty to which I would ever bend the knee -- The King, the People." Davis eventually talked on the agricultural side of the county, adding, "Agriculture as the first pursuit of man … Let not, however, the agriculturist, because he is the only one who increases the wealth of the earth, vaunt himself as being superior to the need of any other pursuit; as well might the hand say to the foot, 'I have no need for thee,' as for the agriculturalist to say to the navigator, to the manufacturer, to the merchant, 'I have no need for thee.' "

With the crowd cheering, Davis gave his final remarks, "My friends, I do not know how to thank you for the kindness of my reception. If my heart, and not my lips, could breathe the sentiment I felt, I might thank you in appropriate terms. As it is, I cannot. But this I say, to the end of my life I will remember the cheers I have received this day; to the end of my life I will remember the welcome which has met me in my progress through Missouri up to this point. At this point it has culminated, and if I ever move to a kingdom it shall be to the Kingdom of Callaway." Davis ended his speech with a prayer, after which Davis left the Kingdom of Callaway.