USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Cornerstone Speech, also known as the Cornerstone Address, was an oration given by Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, at the Athenaeum in Savannah, Georgia, on March 21, 1861.

Detailed explanation-2: -We have now entered upon our career of independence, and it must be inflexibly pursued. Through many years of controversy with our late associates, the Northern States, we have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity and obtain respect for the rights to which we were entitled.

Detailed explanation-3: -Davis argued that the Union, the federal government, was infringing on southern rights, therefore they were within their rights to form a new government, as they were no longer being represented. Davis also asserted that the right to govern is justified by consent.

Detailed explanation-4: -Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.

Detailed explanation-5: -On January 21, 1861, in a scene of high drama, Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis and four southern colleagues rose on the Senate floor to offer final remarks before withdrawing from the body and returning home to their states.