The Cornerstone Speech

By Jeff Paulk, 4 February, 2026

Ah yes, the famous “Cornerstone Speech”. That is one of the “silver bullets” the enemy tries to use against us. They consider it the same as driving a wooden stake through the heart of a vampire. But, as is often the case, and true to Yankee form, they take it out of context and do not tell the whole story. What is the Cornerstone Speech and what does it mean? We will take a look at that and try to clear it up.

Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens made a speech on March 3, 1861 which the anti-Confederates of today make the claim that it proves the War of Northern Aggression was “all about slavery”. The full text of the speech is difficult to find because the biased opposition has edited it (surprise surprise) to suit their agenda. Buried in the middle of his speech, after listing a number of grievances against the U.S. government, he states that slavery is the “immediate cause of the late rupture”, which meant it was the most recent issue, but certainly not the only issue, or the most important issue. Stephens is quoting a Northern SCOTUS who used the same analogy calling slavery the cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution. Stephens meant that the Constitutional right to own slaves was the same in the US and the CS Constitutions.

Here is the famous “cornerstone” passage from his speech:

“Our new government….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 is the “silver bullet” the enemy goes to in order to “prove” their point. Actually, what he said was exactly what the common attitude was in both the North and the South at that time. Let us take a look at what Lincoln had to say on this subject:

“...while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

“They”, in Lincoln’s statement, was referring to black and white. Lincoln certainly was not in favor of blacks living in North America, and even had plans to ship them to Africa, and Central and South America. Northern whites considered blacks an alien population, while the Southern whites considered them fellow Americans.

Most Northern States had ended slavery because it was unprofitable for them, so they sold their slaves down South. The free blacks remaining in the North were segregated into little shanty towns. The Northern Black Codes severely restricted their freedom. Basically, the Northern whites just wanted the blacks gone.

Things were quite different in the South. Blacks worked, worshiped, and socialized with the whites, and the children played together. The South had plans of gradual emancipation and training the blacks so that they could support themselves in their new found freedom. Jefferson Davis and his brother wrote a manual instructing slave masters how to prepare slaves for emancipation and assimilation into society. The radical abolitionists in the North advocated slave insurrections and the murder of whites. THAT was the “slavery issue” which concerned the South.

Alexander Stephens was in favor of liberty for all. In 1845 he made a speech in Texas and stated the following:

“I am no defender of slavery in the abstract – liberty always had charms for me, and I would prefer to see all the sons and daughters of Adam’s family in the full enjoyment of all the rights set forth in the Declaration of American Independence.”

The North really had no problem with slavery as long as it was kept in the South, and the Corwin Amendment proves that to be true. If the North really wanted to be rid of slavery, all it had to do was to let the South go in peace. Why would the North go to war to keep the slave States in the Union? The North wanted the benefits from Southern slavery, and Stephens addresses that point in his speech:

“While it is a fixed principle with them (Republicans) 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 professions of humanity, they are disinclined to give up the benefits they derive from slave labor...The spoils is what they are after though they come from the labor of the slave...Why cannot the whole question be settled simply by...giving their consent to the separation, and a recognition of our independence?”

Stephens’ speech is taken out of its historical context and the anti-Confederates skew his cornerstone analogy. He was not advocating the extension and perpetuation of slavery, but meant it as a means of temporarily managing an uneducated people until such time as they could be readied for assimilation into a Christian society.

So, true to form, the Yankees and other anti-Confederates focus on a minute part of Alexander Stephens’ speech, take it out of context, and make it mean what they want it to mean, pretty much like the media does. Why do they do this? Because they haven’t a leg to stand on in the whole North vs South issue. The South was right, and that’s the factual truth. All the other side can do to bolster its position is to take things out of context, deny the truth, and outright lie. So, when you hear something negative from “those people” (as General Robert E. Lee called them) concerning anything to do with the South and its people during the time period of 1861 to 1877, be very skeptical. Remember, we have not been taught the truth.

Note: Here is a link to my brochure on this subject -

https://www.oklahomascv.org/HiddenInPlainSight.pdf