THREAD: Is the Confederate flag racist? Was the Civil War about slavery? I dunno. Ask CSA Vice President Alexander Stephens. From his "Cornerstone" speech, talking about "all men are created equal":
"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea..." 1/ Cont. 👇🏻
"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea..." 1/ Cont. 👇🏻
"Its (the Confederate government's) 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." (CSA Vice President Stephens cont.) 2/ 👇🏻 
Earlier in CSA VP Stephens' speech:
"The new (Confederate) constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution, African slavery as it exists amongst us—the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization." 3/ 👇🏻
"The new (Confederate) constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution, African slavery as it exists amongst us—the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization." 3/ 👇🏻
"This (slavery) was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the 'rock upon which the old Union would split.' He was right. ..." (CSA Vice President Alexander Stephens cont.) 4/ 👇🏻
"... The prevailing ideas entertained by (Jefferson) and most of the leading statesmen at the time...were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically." (CSA VP Stephens cont) 5/ 👇🏻
"Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell..." (CSA Vice President Stephens cont) 6/
"Our new 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.". 7/
"Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the same race; such were and are in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature’s laws. ..." (CSA Vice President Stephens cont.) 8/
"With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place. ... It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator. ..." (CSA Vice President Stephens cont.) 9/
"He (the Creator)...has made one race to differ from another, as He has made 'one star to differ from another star in glory.' ... Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws." —CSA VP Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861
Nikki Haley makes the ridiculous claim that the Confederate flag wasn't racist until the 2015 Charleston Church massacre.
But the CSA flag was raised at the SC state house in 1961—to commemorate 100 years since Alexander Stephens announced the new Confederate Constitition. 11/
But the CSA flag was raised at the SC state house in 1961—to commemorate 100 years since Alexander Stephens announced the new Confederate Constitition. 11/
In 1861, South Carolina was fighting hard to resist federal courts desegregation orders. South Carolina US Senator Storm Thurmond (a Dixiecrat who later turned GOP) delivered a 24-hour filibuster speech in 1957—longest in history—to oppose integration. 12/
