Answer:
“For many of the best years of my life I have followed that flag and upheld it on fields where if I had fallen it might have been claimed as my winding sheet.”
Step-by-step explanation:
This is the excerpt from Jefferson Davis's speech to the Mississippi Legislature that best expresses a major theme of the speech. In this text, we learn that Jefferson Davis has always greatly appreciated and admired the nation. He is reluctant to secede, and would prefer it if the colonies remained together. This is expressed in this sentence. In this sentence, Davis tells us that for many years he has defended his country and that he loves and values the flag and everything it symbolizes.