The Cornerstone Speech, also known as the Cornerstone Address, was an oration given by Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens at the Athenaeum in Savannah, Georgia, on March 21, 1861,[1] delivered extemporaneously a few weeks before the Civil War began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. Stephens’ speech defended “slavery” as a fundamental and just result of the inferiority of the black race, explained the fundamental differences between the constitutions of the Confederacy and that of the United States, enumerated contrasts between U.S. and Confederate ideologies, and laid out the Confederacy’s rationale for seceding from the U.S. In particular, he stated that “Our new government[‘s] foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man.”
Speech title
The Cornerstone Speech is so called because Stephens used the word “cornerstone” to describe the “great truth” of white supremacy and black subordination upon which secession and confederation were based:
[I]ts 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 normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.[2]
Using biblical imagery,[3] Stephens argued that divine laws consigned African Americans to slavery as the “substratum of our society” by saying:
Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws. This stone which was rejected by the first builders “is become the chief of the corner”—the real “corner-stone”—in our new edifice.[1]
The End of White Christian America: A Conversation with E. J. Dionne and Robert P. Jones
91:25Just two quick points.One is I think there has been a tensionthroughout American history between prophetic religionand what you could call the alternative.Liturgically, you could call it law-based.And the African-American church has alwayspartaken of the prophetic.And I’ve always found that you can–if you’re talking about talking to a Christian,you know which side they are on by whether they quote Micah,Isaiah, and Amos or Leviticus.And whether they–[LAUGHTER]–quote– whether they quote the social passages of the NewTestament or the conversion passages of the New Testament.And I think you saw that in the fight over slavery.You saw that over social justice issuesin the progressive era in the ’30s.I mean, you saw it in the Civil Rights years.I think that’s a deep tension that’s always runningthrough American religion.100:21that obviously, slave owners wanted their slavesto be Christians, but that they were–I remember reading this.I haven’t seen evidence of it.That they actually had Bibles printed upfor slaves, in which the Bible was printed,but the Book of Exodus was left out.Yeah.Oh, OK.I’ve heard that, yes.I want to get that on display somewhere.I’ve heard that, as well.And what’s fascinating is how deeply important the bookof Exodus is in every African-American church,and how central it is African-American preaching,for obvious reasons.I mean, “let my people go.”But yes.I’m going to try to remember where I have found thisbecause there were very–the first slave owners tried to keep the slaves illiterate,and actually didn’t want them reading the whole Biblebecause the Bible is very dangerous.And there was often a tradition of one slave, at least,becoming literate.And the original African-American churcheswere in the woods, and they were–and the slaves were very conscious of those partsof scripture that pointed to the freedom.And so I think, in some cases, they were limited Bibles.But in a lot of cases, the effortwas to keep the slaves illiterate sothat they would only hear the parts,say, of Saint Paul, that said slaves, obey your masters,and that sort of thing.Which was the part that influenced Billy Graham whenhe spoke in Moscow— in Russia.Spoke in Russia, yeah.Thank you.