Mississippi Legislative Session Opens in Historic Old Capitol

Miss. lawmakers open session with history lessons

Associated Press - January 6, 2009 6:14 PM ET

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi lawmakers might think they have problems with partisanship and a tight state budget, but they got some history lessons today (Tuesday) to put things in perspective.

Legislators opened their 2009 session at the freshly renovated Old Capitol museum in downtown Jackson. They were shown a pair of .44-caliber pistols once owned by another famous Mississippi politician -- Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy.
The pistols were used for dueling, once a common way of settling differences. Representative Joe Warren of Mount Olive told his colleagues that no matter how tense things get at the Capitol now, they can find other, less violent ways to work things out.

Legislators will spend the rest of the three-month session in their usual place of business -- the 106-year-old "new" state Capitol.

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