The Great Union Speech Of Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy / SOLD

The Great Union Speech Of Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy -  Large political broadside<!-- /react-text --> actual measuring 17 1/4" x 10 7/8",  frame measuring 24 1/2" x 18" with the text of the Confederate Vice-President Alexander H. Stephens' address to the Georgia convention in 1861 which had considered secession.  This extract of Stephens' speech was printed to dissuade Democrats from supporting McClellan in 1864:<!-- /react-text -->
"There are many well-meaning men in the party called 'DEMOCRATS', who, through party spirit, have allowed themselves to seem to be committed in favor of the "Peace-and-Secession" Doctrine of the men whom they have permitted to become their 'leaders'. To such men we recommend a careful perusal of the following extract from a speech made by ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, before a convention of the people of Georgia, called to consider the propriety of Secession.  He showed clearly that the South had no just cause of complaint, and predicted what would be the consequences of the terrible act. Mr. STEPHENS has since yielded to the spirit of party, against which he so long struggled, but his defection does not disprove his own arguments, the truth of which every day is demonstrating by the painful logic of fact...."<!-- /react-text -->
This Broadside believed to be an 1864 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Campaign Circular containing extracts from a speech "purported to have been made by Stephens, and extensively circulated in the North in 1864 ... a mere forgery, contrived in that section for political purposes."   Exceptional Civil War Broadside with outstanding historical and political content!<!-- /react-text -->

Alexander Hamilton Stephens (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was an American lawyer and politician from Georgia, and the Confederate Vice President throughout the American Civil War.<!-- /react-text -->
His Cornerstone Speech of March 1861 defended slavery in the most uncompromising terms, though after the war he tried to distance himself from his earlier sentiments.  In the course of the Civil War, he became increasingly critical of Confederate President Jefferson Davis' policies, especially conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus.<!-- /react-text -->
In February 1865, he was one of the commissioners who met with Lincoln at the abortive Hampton Roads Conference to discuss peace terms. After his arrest for his part in the rebellion, he was released and served in Congress, being elected Governor of Georgia shortly before his death.

Inventory Number: DOC 118 / SOLD