Final answer:
Jefferson Davis, unlike Abraham Lincoln, faced significant constraints on his presidential power from states' rights advocates within the CSA, which limited his ability to exercise arbitrary power during the Civil War.
Step-by-step explanation:
As President of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Jefferson Davis did not exercise the same level of arbitrary power as President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. This was largely due to the staunch opposition he faced from states' rights supporters within the CSA, who had vigorously advocated for secession and were equally passionate about protecting their states' rights against any perceived encroachment by central authority. These supporters, particularly the governors of Georgia and North Carolina, mounted challenges to Davis’s leadership on matters including the Bread Riots in Richmond, conscription, taxes, and the suspension of habeas corpus. Davis’ experience as a moderate and respected leader played a role in his selection as President, but his governing difficulties stemmed from the very ideology that the Confederacy was founded upon—states' rights. The CSA's Constitution, modeled after the U.S. Constitution but with a firmer statement on states’ powers, combined with Davis’s efforts to work within the politico-constitutional framework of the CSA, constrained his ability to wield power in the same manner as Lincoln.