Chapter 19: in the twenty-ninth Congress, 1845-46.
In the summer of 1845 Mr. Davis's name began to be mentioned very often as the proper nominee for a seat in Congress. In that day the nomination was equivalent to an election; it was not by districts but was by a vote of the State at large.The question of the payment of the Union and Planters' Bank bonds had about this time brought many bickerings and much dissatisfactions into the party.
Mr. Briscoe, the leader of his party in Mississippi, and a repudiator per se, announced that he would not vote for any one but a repudiator. My husband heard of it, and sat up all night at the printing-office of the Whig paper and furnished copy to the compositors; for, on account of the business pressure of issuing their campaign documents, he could not get it done at the Democratic office. Thus he got out by the next day a pamphlet in which he expressed clearly his disapproval of repudiation. He advocated the payment of the Planter's Bank bonds, and that efforts should [206] be made for an amicable adjustment of the Union Bank bonds. These pamphlets he took with him to Jackson, where they were generally distributed. His friends implored him not to express this opinion to Mr. Briscoe, as he could and would defeat him. However, Mr. Davis went to Briscoe with his pamphlet, and after a little conversation M\r. Briscoe said, “Didn't you know I said I would not vote for any man holding these opinions?” “Yes,” said my husband, “and therefore I thought you ought to know mine.” But Mr. Briscoe did vote for him nevertheless, and Mr. Davis was nominated without any considerable opposition, and immediately left home to make the usual so-called canvas, which was merely becoming introduced to his constituents and examining into their peculiar needs before he left Mississippi for Washington.
Then I began to know the bitterness of being a politician's wife, and that it meant long absences, pecuniary depletion from ruinous absenteeism, illness from exposure, misconceptions, defamation of character; everything which darkens the sunlight and contracts the happy sphere of home.
