Cornerstone Speech and The President’s Inaugural Alexander Stephens was an American statesman from Georgia and Vice President of the Confederate States of America or Confederacy (a secessionist state, a group of 7 slave states in the south region of the United States) during the American civil war, fought from 1861 to 1865. He is more eminent in the American society for his Cornerstone speech that he gave in Savannah, Georgia. Certainly, the Confederacy had differences in philosophy with the northern region of the United States, plus Stephens had openly acknowledged that slavery is the main Cornerstone for the dissent factors. He had clearly supported the inferiority of the Negro and believes that Black people should be slaves and owned …show more content…
For the region of the North people, it is the fight of receiving and spreading equal rights and federal power’s supremacy for a better future. For the South region, it is the looting of their power as they crave for their independent power over the federal rule. The spirit of the people is distributed into two sections, where people from the northern region support Lincoln’s vision of equal moral, constitutional, and political influence for all the people of the United States, which also includes slave states. Southern people (slave states) realized the cruel steps and created war demanding repercussions from the North …show more content…
Only Men have voting rights at that time. 1860 and its adjoining years faced many women campaigns to get equality with men in voting and many other purposes, where society hampered their advancement. The period neighboring 1860 was tempestuous. Still, many literatures and arts such as Les Miserable, and War and Peace advanced this phase. Also, skiing, football and basketball games thrilled the life of the people at that time. Religiously, Catholicism was prevalent during this era. “Black, African-American is slave to the white skinned people. Moreover, many races mixing fears are widespread in the society as the popular belief was of white are superior to black people and black people are meant for the slavery purposes. Before 1860, the expansion and eruption of slavery and this occurrence drew the major attention from the United States. Many introductions of antislavery programs came into the society to remove the racial views from the society” (Russell
At the time of Lincoln's inauguration in 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. Lincoln’s anti-slavery platform made him extremely unpopular with Southerners. He won the presidential election without the support of a single Southern state. Lincoln felt it was his sacred duty as President to preserve the Union. His first inaugural address was an appeal to the rebellious states to rejoin the nation.
From the two documents, I see this oration as having the bigger historical significance. The ideas of blacks being the inferior and subordinate foundation of American society spoken in this speech shaped what the War was about but, more importantly, continued to perpetuate themselves throughout the decades after they were uttered. These same ideas led to the segregation seen well into the twentieth century. Of course, Stephens was not the originator of these ideas, but he left them deeply attached to the South by making them such an integral part of the Confederacy’s
Even Thomas Jefferson predicted that slavery would be the “rock upon which the old Union would split”. The one thing that Stephen didn’t seem to put much thought into was whether his speech would benefit the Confederacy or not. The South was leaning towards a complete independence from the North, while the North was trying to devise a compromise to keep the secession from completely taking over the South. The North had a more modernized way of life, while the South had created a more barbaric slave based system. If the North had let the south leave and create its own government the United States of America would have probably ceased to exist.
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,” said Abraham Lincoln in reference to the slavery that plagued the Southern states. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, observed and protected the Union during the five-year Civil War that devastated the country from 1861 to 1865. Lincoln, however, was not only seen as a heroic leader during this war, but a cause for as to why it began, for many reasons. First, Lincoln’s inaugural address was a cause leading up to the Civil War.
From Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg address, and poetry by Carl Sandburg, to the stand colored people took during the modern age, each work represents how different time periods and different situations influenced the evolution of American Literature. In the early 1860’s our nation was engaged in a civil war, fighting over slavery. Abraham Lincoln addresses the public in one of his most famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address. Around 50 years later Carl Sandburg writes the poem Chicago. He explains how Americans are going through a tough time, but gives a shade of hope and to persevere and things will look up.
The Second inaugural address delivered March 4, 1865 to put slavery to an end. Abraham Lincoln attempt to reason with the south, but the south desired to go to war with the north. Lincoln use a lot a religious belief to demonstrate how all people are the same. Also, Lincoln uses strong descriptive word such as, “...Every drop of blood drawn with the lash... the judgement of the lord, are true and righteous altogether.”
The 1850’s to 1860’s was a crucial decade that had detrimental effects on the unity of the country. Many events agitated and aroused secession of the South from the North and divided the country in two. The country’s highly divided views between the Northerners and Southerners could no longer be mended, and Southern states could only see secession as the most viable option. The greatest controversy that ruptured the unity of the country were the opposing views on slavery; the events that occurred in this decade, as well as the fear that the Southerners had toward the potential abolition of slavery in America was enough for them to leave the union and is what lead to the bloody battle of the Civil War. As America continued to advance and flourish geographically and economically, the country began dividing itself between Southern states that supported and relied heavily on slave labor, and Northern states that were more opposed to slavery.
The 16th President of the United States, President Abraham Lincoln, has been assassinated. The fatal shot occurred on April 14, 1865 at the Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC by John Wilkes Booth. President Lincoln, age 56, was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of April 15, 1865. President Lincoln was survived by his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and sons Robert Todd Lincoln, and Thomas “Tad” Lincoln III (Abraham Lincoln Assassination, 2009). The assassination of the President is devastating news for the country.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the
Journal Entry Two 1. While it clear that the debate of slavery was the major cause to the American Civil War, there are number of pressing secondary causes that helped to accelerate the process of division within the country. Primary to these secondary causes is the effect of territorial expansion and the tension it brought between the North and South. The vast economic differences between the North and South provided a perfect scenario for political and social conflict in the new territories. As the Western territory of the Americas continued to be explored, political debate was sparked over the spread of slavery into these newly created states.
Abraham Lincoln; a Bad President Intelligent, beloved, caring, motivated, honest. All words many Americans associate with our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. Very few people are bold or valiant enough to openly speak out against the president. Their arguments consist mainly of the fact he “emancipated” the slaves. However, Lincoln did not do this.
Abraham Lincoln, “United States President,” in his second inaugural address to the country has the hopes of unifying the country and resolving the current bloodshed throughout the country. He ended up leading the Union to a victory over the southern states in the civil war. This preserved the union. Not only did Lincoln see a path to victory, but he also envisioned a way to lead the United States to peaceful relations among its states. Abraham Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, employed the rhetorical strategies of Religion, Logic, and Pathos to show the people of this divided nation what he envisioned for this unstable nation.
Annotated Bibliography History.com Staff. (2009, January 01). Jefferson Davis. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from history.com/topics/american-civil-war/jefferson-davis
Stephens’s "Cornerstone Speech" clearly states that slavery was the "immediate cause" of the Civil War and that it was the "rock upon which the old Union would split." Stephens, who was a key leader of the Confederacy, acknowledges that the preservation of the institution of slavery was the main reason for the Confederacy's decision to secede from the Union. Stephens's speech emphasizes the Confederacy's commitment to maintaining the institution of slavery, stating that the new Constitution has "put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution" and that it was necessary for the preservation of a stable and orderly society. This demonstrates that the Confederacy saw the preservation of slavery as a central goal and a primary motivation for their decision to secede and go to
Two fundamental questions normally surround the history of any war: whether the war was inevitable and if it was necessary. These same questions emerge any time during debates regarding the American Civil war. The most cited cause of the Civil war is the secession of certain southern states that formed the Confederate States of America in January 1861. Thomas Bonner writes "Civil War Historians and the "Needless War" Doctrine" arguing that Southern Carolina seceded in 1860, followed by six other states by January the following year. A deep analysis of the events leading to the war indicates that the Union and the Confederates had profound ideological, economic, political, and social differences.