A Rhetorical Analysis Of Alexander H. Stephens Cornerstone Speech

As exampled in Alexander H. Stephens Cornerstone Speech which he gave on March 21, 1861 to an audience in Savannah, Georgia; the concept of equality between the races was lost to the Southern mind. God, he explained, “had made [African Americans] unequal” and it was the Anti-Slavery fighters of the North who were wrong in their thinking. Furthermore, as portrayed in Thomas Nast’s political cartoon Abraham Lincoln, the very man who embodied this idea of racial equality and the end of slavery, was not well received in the South. In contrast to the almost angelic representation of Lincoln as perceived by the North, his demeanor has taken a complete 360 as he calls for war and steps on his fellow man. It is through these views that the South believed they were fighting the just end of a war, stable and true as the North stood on their “sandy foundation” and backward beliefs. In Stephens’s speech it becomes apparent that when the South went to war it was with the full belief that they were the ones who held an understanding of what was true, rising above the past mistakes of the founding fathers. …show more content…
While he admits that the Constitution was written with the concept of freedom he notes their neglect to take race into consideration and thus, as he explains, the South maintains the right to own slaves. It is in understanding these thoughts that one begins to realize that war was inevitable. The South saw the North as imposing on their rights and forcing “things equal which the Creator had made unequal.” Stephen’s speech proves as holding great historical significance in comprehending the reasons for which the South fought for secession and their regard of African Americans. Further analysis of the speech delves deeper into how African Americans were viewed by pro-slavery Southerners. Stephen brings forth the argument that by this difference in skin, God had made them inferior. “[The Northern States] were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal.” This was why the South believed they had the right to own slaves as they saw African Americans as lesser than them, and that they (white southerners) held every right to hold those inferior to them in subordination and servitude. While the south may have held such beliefs, the north fought hard to stop the spread of slavery and hoped to spark the eventual abolishment of it. Abraham Lincoln, elected for his promise to end this atrocity, was held as a bringer of peace and justice and is portrayed as such by Nast in his cartoon. However, Nast also illustrates the south’s view of Lincoln. In the positive viewpoint, Lincoln is shown as angelic, holding in his hand the scales as a symbol of justice and equality of man, the word “PEACE” close to his side, and his head adorned with the laurel wreath that which has been historically bestowed upon the victorious. The South is completely opposite though, Lincoln is shown as clad in gladiator armor, dagger in hand as he aggressively steps on another man. Instead of the wreath of leaders as in the northern picture, he carries an eagle upon his head screeching the cry of war. These two representations of Lincoln are of two completely different worlds. States heavily relying