During a fiery speech in Atlanta on Tuesday, Biden used the reference, encouraging Democrats to go around the filibuster to pass federal voting rights legislation, which he said would be a "turning point in this nation’s history."
Republicans insist voting laws should be left up to the states.
In 1977, Biden was part of the Senate Judiciary Committee when it unanimously voted to have Davis’ citizenship restored, according to the Washington Examiner.
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The bill was later signed into law by then-President, Democrat, Jimmy Carter.
In 1876, Congress refused to reinstate Davis’ citizenship after the Civil War. He had been charged with treason following the loss of the South.
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The 1977 legislation wasn’t controversial at the time, the Examiner reported, showing how Americans’ opinions of Confederate leaders have changed over the years.
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The bill notes Davis "had served the United States long and honorably as a soldier" before joining the Confederacy and the bill aspired to "clear away the guilts and enmities and recriminations of the past, to finally set at rest the divisions that threatened to destroy our Nation."
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Tuesday was the first time President Biden acknowledged that he favored changing Senate rules to possibly eliminate the filibuster.
Biden made other comparisons between historical figures during Tuesday's speech, including "Dr. King or George Wallace?" and "John Lewis or Bull Connor?"
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Republican-led states such as Georgia and Texas passed restrictive voting laws last year after Biden won the election, which Conservatives emphasize will make voting more secure. Democrats argue the new laws will cause voter suppression.
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Biden, in the unusually vitriolic speech, for a President who casts himself as uniting the nation and healing its wounds, suggested Republicans who oppose Democrat-backed election changes stood in opposition to democracy itself.
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"So I ask every elected official in America, how do you want to be remembered?" Biden said during remarks from the Atlanta University Center Consortium, on the campus of Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College. "Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?"
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