Alexander Stephens
Early Life and Time Leading Up to Civil War
Alexander Hamilton Stephens was born on February 11, 11812, in Taliaferro County, Georgia. He became an orphan at age 14, graduated from Franklin College in 1832, and started gaining attention in the political world after being admitted to the bar in 1834. Stephens was a Whig, and in 1836, he was elected as part of the state legislature in Georgia as a Whig, where he formed a long-lasting friendship and partnership with a man named Robert Toombs. From 1843 through 1859, Alexander Stephens remained part of the House of Representatives.
Alexander Stephens was a strong supporter of slavery, but he understood the fine balance between protecting states’ rights and being part of the nation. Stephens played a part in passing compromises such as the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as he wanted to preserve the Union and put off Southern secession, and felt that the two bills would accomplish that. In the time leading up to Lincoln's election, talk of secession was in the air, but Stephens vehemently resisted the idea of leaving the U.S.A. However, when Georgia decided to secede in January 1861, Stephens retired from Congress, pushed his doubts aside, and signed the ordinance of secession. |
During the Civil War
In February 1861, Alexander Stephens was elected Vice President of the Confederacy at the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama. This was mostly due to his reputation as a former Unionist and a good moderator, which many hoped would be useful in winning over border states. Stephens played a crucial role in creating a Constitution for the Confederate States of America. In Savannah, Georgia, on March 21, 1861, he gave an address introducing the new government, which would come to be known as the famous Cornerstone Speech.
"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 moral condition." When the Civil War began in April of 1861, Stephens wanted to delay military action in favor of properly equipping the Confederacy with supplies and tactics for war, but was largely ignored by Jefferson Davis, as Stephens was not known for being a military man. Stephens was extremely dissatisfied with his position as vice president even after he was reelected in February 1862, as he was little more than a glorified onlooker. The year brought to light many arguments between Davis and Stephens, and started to show Stephens’ slow journey to becoming anti-war. Jefferson Davis had suspended habeas corpus, which allowed arrests without any charges, and put conscription, which gave the Confederate government the power to make enlistment mandatory and draft troops ahead of the state military, into effect after the commencement of the war. Alexander Stephens had an issue with this, as he believed the government should have been limited and more laissez-faire, due to his firm belief in states’ rights. In September of 1862, a Georgia newspaper published an anonymous letter criticizing conscription, which was actually written by Stephens. Stephens and Davis also butted heads over impressment and military strategies. As Stephens started to feel more detached from the Southern cause, he became more eager to put an end to the war. This desire came into play when Stephens was sent to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the North in Washington, D.C. in July 1863. Unfortunately, the Union declined negotiations after their victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. Nevertheless, Stephens’ opposition to both Jefferson Davis and the Civil War only grew in strength. Stephens believed that the power was going to Davis’ head, and voiced his disapproval toward the Confederate president in a speech addressed to the Georgia state legislature in March 1864. This caused many Southerners to condemn Stephens as a traitor to the Confederacy. However, his outright hostility toward Davis won him attention from Union General William T. Sherman. Near the end of 1864, Sherman sent Stephens a letter pushing him to meet and negotiate a separate peace treaty between Georgia and the Union, but Stephens refused. Despite this, Stephens was sent to negotiate another peace treaty with President Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward at Hampton Roads, Virginia in February 1865, but that failed as well and he was arrested in his Georgia home on May 11th of that same year. |
Fun Facts!!!
Did you know that . . .
- Alexander Stephens was frail and sickly and often weighed less than 100 pounds throughout his life, which earned him the nickname "Little Aleck".
- Alexander Stephens remained a bachelor for life.
- In 1848, Alexander Stephens was attacked by a Democratic judge named Francis H. Cone, as he was furious that Stephens opposed the Clayton Compromise, which addressed the issue of slavery in territories won in the Mexican War. Despite being stabbed multiple times by Cone, Stephens showed up to a political rally only a few days later and used his violent encounter to belittle the Democratic party. For such a small guy, Stephens sure was tough!
- toward the end of his life, Stephens wrote a novel called A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States, which was essentially two volumes of apologizing for the Confederacy.
- Alexander Stephens was frail and sickly and often weighed less than 100 pounds throughout his life, which earned him the nickname "Little Aleck".
- Alexander Stephens remained a bachelor for life.
- In 1848, Alexander Stephens was attacked by a Democratic judge named Francis H. Cone, as he was furious that Stephens opposed the Clayton Compromise, which addressed the issue of slavery in territories won in the Mexican War. Despite being stabbed multiple times by Cone, Stephens showed up to a political rally only a few days later and used his violent encounter to belittle the Democratic party. For such a small guy, Stephens sure was tough!
- toward the end of his life, Stephens wrote a novel called A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States, which was essentially two volumes of apologizing for the Confederacy.