Alexander Stephens

(noun)

(February 11, 1812–March 4, 1883) An American politician from Georgia. He was Vice President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He also served as a U.S. Representative from Georgia (both before the Civil War and after Reconstruction) and as the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883.

Related Terms

Examples of Alexander Stephens in the following topics:

  • Confederate Politics

    • Vice President Alexander Stephens was a strong proponent of states' rights, placing this principle above military considerations.
    • Throughout the war, Stephens denounced many of the President's policies, including conscription, suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, impressment, various financial and taxation policies, and Davis' military strategy.
    • Benjamin, Stephen Mallory, Alexander Stephens, Jefferson Davis, John Henninger Reagan, and Robert Toombs.

  • Government During the War

    • In February 1861, the six states that had seceded at that point formed the Confederate States of America and unanimously elected Jefferson Davis as president and Alexander Stephens as provisional vice president.

  • Confederate Diplomacy

    • Arguments on behalf of the Confederacy's sovereign status and the legality of secession were published by Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederacy, and Alexander Stephens, its former vice president.

  • Alexander I's Domestic Reforms

  • Minstrel Shows

    • Popular composers of the era included Stephen Foster and Daniel Emmett.
    • For instance, the African Grove Theatre in New York City founded in 1821 by freed black man William Alexander Brown was frequented by a large cross-section of black New York society prior to the abolition of slavery in that state.

  • Territorial Gains Under Alexander I

  • Alexander the Great

    • Alexander III, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was born to Philip II in Pella in 356 BCE, and succeeded his father to the throne at the age of 20.
    • During his youth, Alexander was tutored by the philosopher Aristotle until the age of 16.
    • Alexander earned the honorific epithet "the Great" due to his unparalleled success as a military commander.
    • Alexander personally led the charge in the center and routed the opposing army.
    • Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era, now at the British Museum.

  • Defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great

    • Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) was a king of the Greek kingdom of Macedon.
    • Alexander then chased the ruling Persian king, Darius III, into Media and then Parthia.
    • Alexander buried Darius' remains next to his Achaemenid predecessors in a regal funeral.
    • Alexander viewed Bessus as a usurper and set out to defeat him.
    • Alexander fights the Persians at the Battle of Issus, as depicted on his sarcophagus

  • Paintings, Macedonian Court Art, and the Alexander Mosaic

    • Alexander followed through on his father's plans.
    • Finally, Alexander relented and turned home.
    • Alexander very carefully controlled and crafted his portraiture.
    • Busts of Alexander depict a young, ageless man.
    • Alexander Mosaic, Battle of Issus.

  • From Gradualism to Abolition

    • Indeed, many Northern leaders married into slave-owning Southern families without any moral qualms, including Stephen Douglas (the Democratic nominee for president in 1860), John C.
    • Though illegal under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, participants such as Harriet Tubman, Henry Highland Garnet, Alexander Crummell, Amos Noë Freeman, and others put themselves at risk to help slaves escape to freedom.