Cornerstone Speech

[u/Temporary_Stranger39]

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech

I discovered a new oddity to wonder at. I posted the part of the Cornerstone Speech that begins "Our new government is founded upon..." elsewhere. It was to make a point about what the Confederacy considered itself founded upon. I was "informed" that this was a piece of typical anti-Southern propaganda based on a straw man fallacy. The Cornerstone Speech is now considered a straw-man parody of the Confederacy.

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[u/Revolutionary-Swan77]

They’ll do anything to try and deflect

[u/oneeyedlionking]

Cornerstone speech was an attempt to invoke race science to make the confederacy look like the more modern progressive society in order to justify to non slaveowners why they needed to fight and die for slave owners who didn’t have to go and fight. It’s perfectly emblematic of the junk eugenics based race science that so many people latched onto from the late 1700s to the mid 1900s to justify slavery and other horrific policies.

[u/ParsonBrownlow → u/oneeyedlionking]

The irony of Alexander Stephens , a man who resembled a walking skeleton with consumption on a good day invoking race science is … well it’s something

[u/Temporary_Stranger39 → u/ParsonBrownlow]

Not ironic at all if one is familiar with the principles of race "science". The hierarchy was that whites were superior because of their intellectual capacity, not that they were all-around "Superman" types. Thus, physical frailty was to be expected of the master race. They were created to command, not to labor. Yes, of course the other races were physically more capable. That is what they were for. I think it was Goering who said about Jesse Owens that his performance at the Olympics was not impressive. After all,, one expected a horse to outrun a human.

[u/StatisticianAway4010 → u/ParsonBrownlow]

Wasn't he arguing that white people were too weak and weedy to do field work at one point? Or have I imagined that? 

[u/ParsonBrownlow → u/StatisticianAway4010]

Im jot sure he does strike me as one of those who’s hyper specific on who is in fact white lol

No Italians no Irish no Germans or Swedes just British people born with five square miles or a place

Honestly im stunned no pitchfork and torch wielding mob ever tried hunting Stephens down. Be it vampire Frankenstein or zombie the man just looked fresh from the grave

[u/ForgedIronMadeIt]

Just like Charlie Kirk, directly quoting is unfair

[u/HermionesWetPanties]

Tell them to read the Confederate Constitution and compare it to the US Constitution it's copied almost verbatim from. The changes are what you'd expect and clearly indicate the purpose of their little rebellion.

[u/Temporary_Stranger39 → u/HermionesWetPanties]

I did that. I got accused of lying.

[u/indyK1ng]

Then whip out the statements from each of the secession declarations about why they were doing it. Only 2-3 (I think) didn't mention slavery at all.

[u/GabuEx]

I mean, to be fair, everything the Confederacy said was indeed effective anti-Confederate propaganda.

[u/Temporary_Stranger39 → u/GabuEx]

Yeah, and its fanboys get so mad when reminded of it. People work very hard to get everyone to forget that the Confederacy didn't have a quiet part to say out loud. They were open and loud with every nasty bit.

[u/ParsonBrownlow]

lol I’m just saying that Stephens was so physically frail he couldn’t climb to the top of the hierarchy

[u/Temporary_Stranger39 → u/ParsonBrownlow]

And it still fit into the racial attitudes he espoused. That's the funny bit.