who was the vice president of the confederate states?

Savannah, Georgia, March 21, 1861ByAlexander H. Stephens. It has been so even amongst us. He, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. or form of government, constitutes the subject to which your attention will be partly invited. He was elected to the Confederate Congress and was chosen by the Congress as vice president of the provisional government. It was so with Harvey, and his theory of the circulation of the blood. General Grier had inherited his own father's library, said to be "the largest library in all that part of the country. Electors had to cast one of their votes for someone not from their State. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a Government built upon it - "when the storm came and the wind blew, it fell. They lacked that virtue, that devotion to moral principle, and that patriotism which is essential to good government Organized upon principles of perfect justice and right-seeking amity and friendship with all other powers-I see no obstacle in the way of our upward and onward progress. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. Thus far we have seen none of those incidents which usually attend revolutions. Both . "Alexander H. Stephens and Joseph E. Brown and the Georgia Resolutions for Peace. The road to secession George Washington; slavery Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." In the new constitution, provision has been made by which our heads of departments can speak for themselves and the administration, in behalf of its entire policy, without resorting to the indirect and highly objectionable medium of a newspaper. The Confederate States of America (CSA) was a short-lived government that existed in the southern United States during the American Civil War. Jefferson Davis. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." Not so with the negro. In 1842, he was elected to the Georgia Senate. This was an error. Good News About Those Military Bases Named After Confederate Officers Historian Keith S. Hbert describes it as "the most significant speech" ever delivered by Stephens. He raised funds for Phi Kappa Hall, located on the university campus. [16] Stephens and Toombs both supported said compromise between slave and free states, though they opposed the exclusion of slavery from the territories on the theory that such lands belonged to all of the people. Starting this past March and continuing into the fall, all nine Army bases that are named after Confederate generals have been, or will be given, new names more in keeping with American values and . Corner Stone Speech | Teaching American History None of his clients charged with capital crimes were executed. He then returned to his home in Georgia, where he was arrested on May 11, 1865. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. How can this strange paradox be accounted for? This augurs well for the future, and it is a matter of sincere gratification to me, that I am enabled to make the declaration. It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances, or to question them. Our first parents, the great progenitors of the human race, were not without a like temptation when in the garden of Eden. Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln: Dueling inaugural addresses Why cannot the whole question be settled, if the north desire peace, simply by the Congress, in both branches, with the concurrence of the President, giving their consent to the separation, and a recognition of our independence? But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Stephens then attended Franklin College and graduated in 1832. After the war, Stephens was a prominent supporter of the Compromise of 1850 and helped draft the Georgia Platform, which opposed secession. Stephens. Stephens maintained his states rights philosophy into 1865, when he made another failed attempt to negotiate peace with the U.S. government. The office was held by Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, who served under President Jefferson Davis of Mississippi from February 18, 1861, until the dissolution of the Confederacy on May 5, 1865. 'Waking up to racism': New documentary tells truth about Confederacy I have been asked, what of the future? He even served as President James Buchanan's floor manager in the House during the fruitless battle for the slave state Lecompton Constitution for Kansas Territory in 1857. On that date, he was elected and took office as governor of Georgia. They in an evil hour yieldedinstead of becoming gods, they only saw their own nakedness. [4] The Stephenses lived on a farm in Taliaferro County, Georgia, near Crawfordville. With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. No citizen is deprived of life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers under the laws of the land. This revolution resulted in the American Civil War. In 1855 and 1857, his re-elections came as a Democrat. I shall take my time I feel quite prepared to spend the night with you if necessary. Again, the subject of internal improvements, under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put at rest under our system. Stephens and fellow Georgia Representative Robert Toombs campaigned for the election of Zachary Taylor as president in 1848. I would feign hope the former. Intelligence will not do without virtue. During this time Stephens fostered what would become a lifelong friendship with Robert Toombs, a fellow Georgia assemblyman. No State was in greater need of such facilities than Georgia, but we did not ask that these works should be made by appropriations out of the common treasury. Memoirs of Georgia (Atlanta: Southern Historical Association, 1895), Vol. This is upward of two hundred thousand square miles more than was included within the limits of the original thirteen States. He was imprisoned in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, for five months before being pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in October 1865. Although virtually the entire South had spurned Douglas as a traitor to Southern rights because he had opposed the Lecompton Constitution and broken with Buchanan, Stephens remained on good terms with Douglas and even served as one of his presidential electors in the election of 1860. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Confederate States presidential election of 1861, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_H._Stephens&oldid=1165258837, Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America, Constitutional Union Party members of the United States House of Representatives, Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state), Democratic Party governors of Georgia (U.S. state), Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, Georgia (U.S. state) Constitutional Unionists, Heads of state of states with limited recognition, Members of the Georgia House of Representatives, People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War, Signers of the Confederate States Constitution, Signers of the Georgia Ordinance of Secession, Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States, Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives, Articles with dead external links from December 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2023, Articles lacking reliable references from September 2018, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0. Led by Jefferson Davis and existing . Stephens did not seek re-election to Congress in 1858. It is the first government ever instituted upon the principles in strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence, in furnishing the materials of human society. He was instrumental in framing the failed English Bill after it became clear that Lecompton would not pass, in order to negotiate the approval. In the British parliament, the premier brings in his budget and stands before the nation responsible for its every item. On February 9, 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected Provisional President and Alexander H. Stephens was elected Provisional Vice President. This is without taking into account the heavy city debts, corporation debts, and railroad debts, which press, and will continue to press, as a heavy incubus upon the resources of those States. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Get HISTORYs most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. Alexander H. Stephens was a Georgian gentleman who served on Congress and became the Vice President to the Confederate States of America. Alexander H. Stephens (1812-1883), although originally opposed to secession, was elected vice-president of the Confederacy. Alexander Stephens | American Battlefield Trust He became a leading Southern Whig and strongly opposed the MexicanAmerican War. I should have preferred that this provision should have gone further, and required the President to select his constitutional advisers from the Senate and House of Representatives. In September 1862 he published an unsigned letter in a Georgia newspaper condemning the policy of conscription, which gave the Confederate government the power to draft troops ahead of their state militias. Confederate States of America | History, President, Map, Facts, & Flag He then introduced the new government during a stump speech in Savannah on March 21, 1861. Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Confederate States of America Because the Supreme Court had voted 72 in the Dred Scott case, it would take decades of Senate-approved appointments to reverse it. John Tyler | The White House This will now be the case to a limited extent under our system. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Stephens was described as "a highly sensitive young man of serious and joyless habits of consuming ambition, of poverty-fed pride, and of morbid preoccupation within self," a contrast to the "robust, wealthy, and convivial Toombs. [14] This seat was at-large, as Georgia did not have House Districts until the next year. We have stretched out lines of railroads from the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the hills, and filled up the valleys at a cost of not less than $25,000,000. Stephens's wounds were serious, and he returned home to Crawfordville to recover. [41], A lifelong bachelor, Stephens never married and has no known direct descendants. The President of the Confederate States of America is the elected head of state and government of the Confederate States. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives before and after the Civil War. After an unhappy stint as a schoolteacher, he studied law and then served as a successful defense lawyer in Crawfordville starting in 1834. Stay up-to-date on the American Battlefield Trust's battlefield preservation efforts, travel tips, upcoming events, history content and more. The pair returned from the District of Columbia to Georgia to secure support for the measures at home. He died in office in 1883 at the age of 71. These inconveniences, it is to be hoped, will be but temporary, and must be borne with patience and forbearance. Will every thing, commenced so well, continue as it has begun? Denying his earlier statements that slavery was the Confederacy's cause for leaving the Union, he contended to the contrary that he thought that the war was rooted in constitutional differences;[2][34] this explanation by Stephens is widely rejected by historians. He served in this capacity until 1882, when he was elected as the governor of Georgia. The entire population, including white and black, of the original thirteen States, was less than four millions in 1790, and still less in 76, when the independence of our fathers was achieved. Had it not been for Stephens, the bill probably never would have passed in the House. Today, the Vice President who demurred on slavery and joined the Confederacy: John C. Breckinridge. Stephens and Toombs were not only political allies but also lifelong friends. As his wealth increased, Stephens began acquiring land and slaves. The idea of coercion, shadowed forth in President Lincoln's inaugural, seems not to be followed up thus far so vigorously as was expected. Johnson's May 29, 1865 Amnesty Proclamation NPS Image Presidential "Restoration," or Andrew Johnson's Plan for Reconstruction Following Abraham Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson based his reconstruction plan on Lincoln's earlier measure. Alexander Stephens was born on February 11, 1812. This stone which was "rejected by the first builders" [Founding Fathers] " is become the chief of the corner" the real "corner-stone" in our new edifice. With wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship on the part of our public men, and intelligence, virtue and patriotism on the part of the people, success, to the full measures of our most sanguine hopes, may be looked for. In it, he excoriated the Davis Administration for its support of conscription and suspension of habeas corpus, and supported a block of resolutions aimed at securing peace. Cornerstone Speech | American Battlefield Trust He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party before the American Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant | The White House In 1862, Stephens first publicly expressed his opposition to the Davis administration. All I can say to you, therefore, on that point is, keep your armor bright and your powder dry. John C. Breckinridge | Biography, Facts, & Party | Britannica The Cornerstone Speech, also known as the Cornerstone Address, was an oration given by Alexander H. Stephens, acting Vice President of the Confederate States of America, at the Athenaeum in Savannah, Georgia, on March 21, 1861. Stephens declined to seek re-election in 1858, but continued to publicly advocate against secession. The office was held by Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, who served under President Jefferson Davis of Mississippi from February 18, 1861, until the dissolution of the Confederacy on May 5, 1865. [1], According to the Constitution of the Confederate States, the vice president's office was almost entirely identical to that of the vice president of the United States.[2]. The question of building up class interests, or fostering one branch of industry to the prejudice of another under the exercise of the revenue power, which gave us so much trouble under the old constitution, is put at rest forever under the new. This legislation aroused fury in the North because it applied the popular sovereignty principle to the Territory, in violation of the Missouri Compromise. After the war, Stephens was imprisoned until October 1865. During the convention, as well as during the 1860 presidential campaign, Stephens, who came to be known as the sage of Liberty Hall,[20] called for the South to remain loyal to the Union, likening it to a leaking but fixable boat. We are a young republic, just entering upon the arena of nations; we will be the architects of our own fortunes. Alexander Hamilton Stephens (1812-1883) served as vice president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War (1861-65). During his 32 years of practice, he gained a reputation as a capable defender of the wrongfully accused. [15] Stephens was physically outmatched by his larger assailant, but he remained defiant during the attack, refusing to recant his positions even at the cost of his life. John C. Breckinridge (1821-1875) was a politician who served as the 14th vice president of the United States and as a Confederate general during the Civil War (1861-65). His opposition to Davis became so pronounced that in late 1864 he received a letter from Union General William T. Shermanthen undertaking his March to the Seaencouraging Stephens to meet and discuss the possibility of Georgia forming an independent peace agreement with the Union. If he plants himself upon truth, integrity, honor and uprightness, with industry, patience and energy, he cannot fail of success. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images, Alexander Stephens: Early Life and Political Career, Alexander Stephens: Vice President of the Confederacy, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/alexander-h-stephens. Although old and infirm, Stephens continued to work on his house and plantation. After serving two terms in the House of Representatives, Breckinridge became the youngest Vice President in the history of the United States under President James Buchanan in 1857, at the age of 36. It is to be greatly hoped that under our system we shall never have what is known as a government organ. These differences of opinion were more in reference to policy than principle, and as Mr. Jefferson said in his inaugural, in 1801, after the heated contest preceding his election, that there might be differences of opinion without differences on principle, and that all, to some extent, had been Federalists and all Republicans; so it may now be said of us, that whatever differences of opinion as to the best policy in having a co-operation with our border sister slave States, if the worst came to the worst, that as we were all co-operationists, we are now all for independence, whether they come or not. The following year, the Georgia legislature elected Stephens to the United States Senate, but the Senate declined to seat him due to his role in the Civil War. It is the only feature that saves that government. [1] His parents were Andrew Baskins Stephens and Margaret Grier. It was filled to stand for 'Hamilton' out of respect for Alexander Hamilton Webster, a childhood mentor. [36] His tenure as governor proved brief; Stephens died on March 4, 1883, four months after taking office. It was so with the principles announced by Galileo it was so with Adam Smith and his principles of political economy. Jefferson Davis, in full Jefferson Finis Davis, (born June 3, 1808, Christian county, Kentucky, U.S.died December 6, 1889, New Orleans, Louisiana), president of the Confederate States of America throughout its existence during the American Civil War (1861-65). This stone which was rejected by the first builders "is become the chief of the corner" the real "corner-stone" in our new edifice. ", Brumgardt, John R. "Alexander H. Stephens and the State Convention Movement in Georgia: A Reappraisal. If we do this, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas cannot hesitate long; neither can Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. Top Questions When did Andrew Johnson become president of the United States? "[12] Alexander Stephens, who read voraciously even as a youth, mentions the library in his "Recollections.". "[6], His mother, a Georgia native and sister of Grier's Almanac founder Robert Grier,[7] died in 1812 at the age of 26; Alexander Stephens was only three months old. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away.
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