Alexander H. Stephens

Alexander H. Stephens
Portrait c. 1860s
Vice President of the Confederate States
In office February 22, 1862 – May 11, 1865 Provisional: February 11, 1861 – February 22, 1862
President	Jefferson Davis
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
50th Governor of Georgia
In office November 4, 1882 – March 4, 1883
Preceded by	Alfred H. Colquitt
Succeeded by	James S. Boynton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia
In office October 2, 1843 – March 3, 1859
Preceded by	Mark Anthony Cooper
Succeeded by	John James Jones
Constituency	At-large (1843–1845) 7th district (1845–1853) 8th district (1853–1859)
In office December 1, 1873 – November 4, 1882
Preceded by	John James Jones
Succeeded by	Seaborn Reese
Constituency	8th district
Member of the Confederate States Provisional Congress from Georgia
In office February 4, 1861 – February 17, 1862
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the Georgia Senate from the Taliaferro County district
In office November 7, 1842 – December 27, 1842
Preceded by	Singleton Harris
Succeeded by	Abner Darden
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the Taliaferro County district
In office November 7, 1836 – December 9, 1841
Personal details
Born	(1812-02-11)February 11, 1812 Crawfordville, Georgia, U.S.
Died	March 4, 1883(1883-03-04) (aged 71) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Resting place	A. H. Stephens State Park, Crawfordville
Political party	Whig (1836–1851) Unionist (1851–1860) Constitutional Union (1860–1861) Democratic (1861–1883)[clarification needed]
Education	University of Georgia (BA)
Signature

Alexander Hamilton Stephens^[a] (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was an American politician who served as the first and only vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, and later as the 50th governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives before and after the Civil War.

Stephens attended Franklin College and established a legal practice in his hometown of Crawfordville, Georgia. After serving in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly, he won election to Congress, taking his seat in 1843. He became a leading Southern Whig and strongly opposed the Mexican–American War. After the war, Stephens was a prominent supporter of the Compromise of 1850 and helped draft the Georgia Platform, which opposed secession. A proponent of the expansion of slavery into the territories, Stephens also helped pass the Kansas–Nebraska Act. As the Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s, Stephens eventually joined the Democratic Party and worked with President James Buchanan to admit Kansas as a state under the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution (which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a referendum in that state).

Stephens declined to seek re-election in 1858 but continued to publicly advocate against secession. After Georgia and other Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, Stephens was elected as the Confederate Vice President. Stephens's Cornerstone Speech of March 1861 defended slavery; enumerated contrasts between the American and Confederate foundings, ideologies, and constitutions; and laid out the Confederacy's rationale for seceding.^[2] In the course of the war, he became increasingly critical of President Jefferson Davis's policies, especially Confederate conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus.^[3] In February 1865, he was one of the commissioners who met with Abraham Lincoln at the abortive Hampton Roads Conference to discuss peace terms.

After the war, Stephens was imprisoned until October 1865. The following year, the Georgia legislature elected Stephens to the U.S. Senate, but the Senate declined to seat him due to his role in the Civil War. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1873 and held that office until 1882, when he resigned from Congress to become governor of Georgia. Stephens served as governor until his death in March 1883.

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