 Alexander H. Stephens, the deliverer of the speech | |
| Date | March 21, 1861; 164 years ago (1861-03-21) |
|---|---|
| Location | The Athenaeum,Savannah,Georgia |
| Participants | Alexander H. Stephens |
TheCornerstone Speech, also known as theCornerstone Address, was an oration given byAlexander H. Stephens, actingVice President of the Confederate States of America, at theAthenaeum inSavannah, Georgia, on March 21, 1861.[1]
The improvised speech, delivered a few weeks before theCivil War began, defendedslavery as a necessary and just result of the supposed inferiority of the black race, explained the fundamental differences between the constitutionsof the Confederate States and thatof the United States, enumerated contrasts betweenUnion andConfederate ideologies, and laid out the Confederacy's rationale forseceding.
The Cornerstone Speech is so called because Stephens used the word "cornerstone" to describe the "great truth" ofwhite supremacy and black subordination upon which secession and the Confederacy were based:
Our new government['s]...foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.[2][3]
Later in the speech, Stephens used biblical imagery (Psalm 118, v.22) in arguing that divine laws consignedblack Americans to slavery as the "substratum of our society":
Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws. This stone which was rejected by the first builders 'is become the chief of the corner'—the real 'corner-stone'—in our new edifice.[1]
The speech was given weeks after the secession ofSouth Carolina,Mississippi,Florida,Alabama,Georgia,Louisiana and thenTexas and less than three weeks after theinauguration of Abraham Lincoln as the 16thPresident of the United States. The war itself would not begin until theU.S. base of Fort Sumter was attacked by the Confederates in mid-April, so open, large-scale hostilities between the two sides had not yet begun. However, there had been isolated incidents, such as the attack on the U.S. steamshipStar of the West, carrying supplies forFort Sumter. Referring to the general lack of violence, Stephens stated that the secession had to that point been accomplished without "the loss of a single drop of blood".[4]
Stephens' speech criticized theFounding Fathers, andThomas Jefferson in particular, for their anti-slavery andEnlightenment views, accusing them of erroneously assuming that races are equal.[5] He declared that disagreements over the enslavement of black Americans were the "immediate cause" of secession and that the Confederate constitution had resolved such issues, saying:
The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to ourpeculiar institution—African slavery as it exists among us—the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. 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. 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. [...] Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a Government built upon it—when the "storm came and the wind blew, it fell."[6][7]
Stephens contended that advances and progress in the sciences proved that theUnited States Declaration of Independence's view that "all men are created equal" was erroneous and that all men were not created equal.[8] He stated that advances in science proved that enslavement of black Americans by white men was justified and that itcoincided with the Bible's teachings.[8] He also stated that the Confederacy was the first country in the world founded on the principle of white supremacy:
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science.
Stephens stated that the Confederacy's belief in human inequality was adhering to the "laws of nature":
May we not therefore look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgement of the truths upon which our system rests? 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. Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the same race; such were and are in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature's laws.
The phrases "laws of nature" and "all men are created equal" from the U.S. Declaration of Independence had formed part of the basis of Lincoln's assertion that he was defending the principles of the Founding Fathers by being opposed to slavery.[9]Democrats such asJohn C. Calhoun andStephen A. Douglas had differing views on what the latter phrase meant. Calhoun had contended that the idea was peculiar to Thomas Jefferson and not a universal principle,[9] whereas Douglas maintained that it referred to white men only.[10] In this context, Stephens' assertion has been read as validating Lincoln's interpretation of the U.S. Founding Fathers' principles, but countering with an assertion of "racial inequality".[9]
After the Confederacy's defeat at the hands of the U.S. in the Civil War and theabolition of slavery, Stephens attempted to retroactively deny and retract the opinions he had stated in the speech. 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 as detailed below.[11]
In the speech, Stephens mostly outlined how the Confederate constitution eliminated the tariff and prohibited the central government from spending oninternal improvements. The reasoning was on astates' rights argument, with theGeorgia Railroad as a first example:
The cost of the grading, the superstructure, and the equipment of our roads was borne by those who had entered into the enterprise. Nay, more not only the cost of the iron—no small item in the aggregate cost—was borne in the same way, but we were compelled to pay into the common treasury several millions of dollars for the privilege of importing the iron, after the price was paid for it abroad. What justice was there in taking this money, which our people paid into the common treasury on the importation of our iron, and applying it to the improvement of rivers and harbors elsewhere?
[...]
IfCharleston Harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear the burden. If the mouth of the Savannah river has to be cleared out, let the sea-going navigation which is benefited by it, bear the burden.
Stephens noted that the new country would have a clear delineation between federal and state responsibilities and took the position similar to that of South Carolina during thenullification crisis, namely that the federal government should not pay for internal improvements.
The first change was apparently very important to Stephens and he would have made the constitution even closer to that of the United Kingdom's, but he felt it was still an improvement over the U.S. Constitution, saying that "cabinet ministers and heads of departments may have the privilege of seats upon the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives and may have the right to participate in the debates and discussions upon the various subjects of administration".
As an example, in the U.S. Constitution theU.S. Secretary of the Treasury had no chance to explain his budget or to be held accountable except by the press.
The President was to serve a single six-year term in the hope that it would "remove from the incumbent all temptation to use his office or exert the powers confided to him for any objects of personal ambition".
The seven states that seceded, Stephens thought, were sufficient to form a successful republic, with a population of five million (including blacks) and a land area larger than that ofFrance,Spain,Portugal, and theUnited Kingdom combined. The seven states contained taxable property of $2,200,000,000 and debts of only $18,000,000 whereas the remaining United States had a debt of $174,000,000.[citation needed]
The Confederate constitution allowed new states to join easily. Stephens said that surelyNorth Carolina,Tennessee, andArkansas would be members in the near future and thatVirginia,Kentucky, andMissouri would eventually join.
Stephens expected the swift evacuation ofFort Sumter, a U.S. Army stronghold inSouth Carolina, but what "course will be pursued towardFort Pickens, and the other [U.S.] forts on the gulf, is not so well understood". Since the Confederacy up to that point had been born bloodless, Stephens stated that he had wanted that to continue and to make peace "not only with the North, but with the world". Even so, he surmised that the U.S. would not follow a peaceful course and accused theRepublicans of being hypocritical in being opposed to slavery but at the same time refusing to acquiesce slave states seceding from the U.S.:
The principles and position of the present Administration of the United States—the Republican Party—present some puzzling questions. While it is a fixed principle with them, never to allow the increase of a foot of Slave Territory, they seem to be equally determined not to part with an inch "of the accursed soil." Notwithstanding their clamor against the institution, they seemed to be equally opposed to getting more, or letting go what they have got. They were ready to fight on the accession of Texas, and are equally ready to fight now on her secession. Why is this? How can this strange paradox be accounted for? There seems to be but one rational solution—and that is, notwithstanding their professions of humanity, they are disinclined to give up the benefits they derive from slave labor. Their philanthropy yields to their interest. The idea of enforcing the laws, has but one object, and that is a collection of the taxes, raised by slave labor to swell the fund necessary to meet their heavy appropriations. The spoils is what they are after—though they come from the labor of the slave.
Finally, Stephens predicted that the nascent Confederate regime would succeed or fail based on the character of its constituent body politic.
When war broke out and the Confederacy refused to release captured Black U.S. soldiers in exchange for imprisoned Confederates in U.S. custody, Union officialBenjamin Butler alluded to all this, telling the Confederates that "your fabric of opposition to the Government of the United States has the right of property in man as its corner-stone".[12] AbolitionistFrederick Douglass alluded to the speech in an 1863 speech in Pennsylvania encouraging Black men to fight for the U.S. cause: "Stephens has stated, with the utmost clearness and precision, the difference between the fundamental ideas of the Confederate Government and those of the Federal Government. One is based on the idea that colored men are an inferior race who may be enslaved and plundered forever and to the hearts content of any men of different complexion..."[13]
HistorianHarry V. Jaffa discusses the speech at length in his 2000 bookA New Birth of Freedom. He concludes that "this remarkable address conveys, more than any other contemporary document, not only the soul of the Confederacy but also of thatJim CrowSouth that arose from the ashes of the Confederacy".[14] Jaffa compared the racism of Stephens and the Confederacy to that ofAdolf Hitler andNazi Germany:
Stephens's prophecy of the Confederacy's future resembles nothing so much as Hitler's prophecies of the Thousand-Year Reich. Nor are their theories very different.[14]
The speech was given extemporaneously. After the war, Stephens attempted todownplay the importance of slavery as the cause of Confederacy's secession. In an 1865 diary entry written while imprisoned, he accused reporters of having misquoted him, and claimed that constitutional issues were more important.[15][16] Stephens contended that the notes of the reporter who recorded the speech were "very imperfect" and "hastily corrected" by himself, and that his speech was published "without further revision and with several glaring errors".[17] He further expounded on this allegation in his 1868 bookA Constitutional View of the Late War between the States.[15] According to one scholar, the "misquotations" alleged by Stephens after the war are so numerous as to be highly unlikely.[15]
There is a misconception thatJefferson Davis, theleader of the Confederacy, was outraged by Stephens's admission that slavery was the reason behind the slave states' secession, for Davis himself was attempting to garner foreign support for the nascent regime from countries that were not very accepting of slavery. However, there is no evidence that this actually happened. Stephens, Davis, and Davis's wifeVarina did not discuss any such disagreement in their respective autobiographies, nor did Stephens's official biographers. The first mention of Davis's supposed reaction was in a 1959 biography of Davis byHudson Strode, who appears to have presented his own conjecture as fact.[18][unreliable source?]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)[Y]our fabric of opposition to the Government of the United States has the right of property in man as its corner-stone.
Stephens has stated, with the utmost clearness and precision, the difference between the fundamental ideas of the Confederate Government and those of the Federal Government. One is based on the idea that colored men are an inferior race who may be enslaved and plundered forever and to the hearts content of any men of different complexion
This remarkable address conveys, more than any other contemporary document, not only the soul of the Confederacy but also of that Jim Crow South that arose from the ashes of the Confederacy. From the end of Reconstruction until after World War II, the idea of racial inequality gripped the territory of the former Confederacy, and not only of the former Confederacy, more profoundly than it had done under slavery. Nor is its influence by any means at an end. Stephens's prophecy of the Confederacy's future resembles nothing so much as Hitler's prophecies of the Thousand-Year Reich. Nor are their theories very different. Stephens, unlike Hitler, spoke only of one particular race as inferior.
