Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, had numerous problems to solve during his tenure of office. Many of these problems were difficult, to say the least, and could not be easily dealt with, but among the most complicated was the complex problem of command. There can be little doubt that a command problem actually existed. Indeed, the tension between Davis and his generals was quite often open and above board. Because of this trouble, the armies of the Confederate government were never as effective as they could have been.

One facet of the problem of state rights within the Confederacy is revealed through a study of the relations between President Davis and the war governors. As a means of investigating those relationships this study considers their attempts to solve several major problems. This work seeks to discover the degree of co-operation which existed between the President and governors and to establish what effect this co-operation or lack of it had on the failure of the states to support many important central government policies. It also seeks to determine what influence those relationships had on the outcome of the war.

Looming large in the manifold problems of the Davis government after the clash of arms at Sumter was the creation of an army to defend the South. Involved in this problem was the extremely important task of expanding forces. No dearth of excellent officer material existed for some of the most able West Point graduates in the Union army had resigned and were eager to serve their section. The major problem was the question of relative rank to be assigned in the new chain of command.