What point of view does Jefferson Davis express in this excerpt from his inaugural address? The declared purpose of the compact of Union from which we have withdrawn was "to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity;" and when, in the judgment of the sovereign States now composing this Confederacy, it had been per verted from the purposes for which it was ordained, and had ceased to answer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal to the ballot-box declared that so far as they were concerned, the government created by that compact should cease to exist. In this they merely asserted a right which the Declaration of Independence of 1776 had defined to be inalienable ... The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which has been affirmed and reaffirmed in the bills of rights of States subsequently admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognize in the people the power to resume the authority delegated for the purposes of government. Thus the sovereign States here represented proceeded to form this Confederacy …

A. He believes secession is necessary because the United States is defying the principles on which the nation was built.

B. He believes the United States is corrupting the South with its illegal activities, so the South must secede.

C. He believes separation from the United States is necessary because the government is exploiting the South’s natural resources.

D. He believes the Southern states are superior to the Northern states in every respect, and therefore it is best to secede.