Corner Stone Analysis

The idea of “liberty” and “freedom” have long been at the core of the American identity and, in many ways, are the pillars upon which the US was founded. However, since the outset of the United States, these ideals have been contradicted by the institution of slavery, which denied the rights of African-Americans to freedom. It was not until the nineteenth century and the civil war that any major developments occurred in regards to the way the notion of liberty was applied to the African-American population. There existed a number of distinct schools of thought, defined both by race and by region, to how this could be interpreted. Two of the most outspoken proslavery advocates were South Carolina senator James Henry Hammond and Vice President …show more content…
Stephens denounces the constitution of the United States, saying that it, “rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error… They were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal.”. He goes on to announce that the Confederate, “government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone 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”. According to Stephens, black inferiority is founded upon nature and the will of god. To not oppress the African-American population, therefore, would be going against the will of god. Additionally, by infusing the Confederate constitution with religious validation, Stephens makes violating it an act of heresy. Above all else, white southerner slave holders viewed liberty of African-Americans as a destabilizing force to southern society and economy, which is centered around slavery, and in violation of the laws of nature and the will of