Background information

In March 1861, when Alexander Stephens delivered his Cornerstone Speech, seven American states had seceded from the United States of America and formed the Confederate States of America. In the decades leading up to the 1860s, there had been disagreements between the northern and southern states regarding the individual rights of states, the meaning of different parts of the US Constitution, and the role of slavery. Most importantly, southern states relied on the labor of black slaves to support their agricultural economy. Stephens refers to this towards the end of his speech, when he mentions the cotton plant, since cotton plantations were maintained with slave labor.

With the election of President Abraham Lincoln, who was a vocal opponent of slavery, in 1960, southern states believed that the abolitionist...