STEPHENS
STEPHENS
years. Andrew B. Stephens died in 1826, and
Alexander was left an orphan, his mother having
died some years before. He inherited about
$444, and this with a small legacy from his grand-
father was spent upon his education. He lived
with his uncle, Charles C. Mills, of Washington,
Wilkes county, a man of wealth and influence.
He was sent to the high school at that place,
taught by the Rev. Alexander Hamilton Webster,
pastor of the Presbyterian church, through whose
influence Alexander (who then first made use of
the middle name Hamilton in respect for his
teacher and friend) received an offer from the
Presbyterian Educational society to loan him the
money for a college course, and he matriculated
at Franklin college (University of Georgia) in
1828, and was graduated in 1832, but refused to
pay two dollars for a diploma. He taught school
to repay his indebtedness to his benefactors, 1832-
34, and determining to adopt the profession of
law, he was admitted to the bar, July 22, 1834,
having given but two months' time to prepare
for his examination. W. H. Crawford and J. H.
Lumpkin, his examiners, both declared it to be the
best examination they had ever witnessed. He
lived frugally, and soon earned sufficient money
to purchase his father's plantation in 1839, and
the estate which became Liberty Hall, his future
home in Crawfordville. He was a states rights
Whig, but opposed to nullification, and he was
elected a representative to the Georgia legislature
in 1836, against a determined opposition, and
after a heated canvass of the district. He took
a front rank in the house, and his presentation to
the state of the earning capacity of a railroad from
Atlanta to Chattanooga secured the appropria-
tion for the Western and Atlantic railroad, which
became known as the state road. He also secured
the first charter ever granted in the United
States for a college for the regular graduation of
women in classics and the sciences, the Georgia
Female college at Macon, chartered in 1836, and
opened, Jan. 7, 1839, with six professors and as
many assistants. He was re-elected to the legis-
lature in 1837, and each following year until
1841, when he declined a re-election, but was
«ent to the state senate in 1842-43. He was a
delegate to the Charleston commercial conven-
tion in 1839, and in 1843 was elected a represen-
tative from Georgia to the 28th congress (to com-
plete the term of Mark A. Cooper, who resigned
to run for governor of the state) by 3000 majority.
At this time Georgia had not formed congres-
sional districts, and after he had taken his seat
he addressed the house on the question of his
right to be seated when Georgia had not con-
formed to the Federal act requiring the state to
divide into districts instead of electing representa-
tives from the state at large on the general ticket.
His right to a seat was sanctioned by the com-
mittee on elections, and Georgia thereafter com-
plied with the law. He was re-elected from the
seventh district to the 29th-32d congresses, and
from the eighth district to the 33d-35th con-
gresses, serving continuously, 1839-59, when he
declined further office, and announced his retire-
ment from public life in a speech at Augusta, Ga.,
July 2, 1859. He had supported Harrison in
1840, Clay in 1844, and Taylor in 1848. He urged
the admission of Texas, and in February, 1847,
introduced in the house resolutions opposing the
prosecution of the war against Mexico, as a viola-
tion of the constitution and carried on for con-
quest, but the house refused to consider the
resolutions. In 1848 he opposed the Clayton com-
promise against the opinions of his constituents,
and the protests of the citizens of the whole
state. When he appeared in Atlanta he was at-
tacked and nearly killed in the public street by
Judge Francis Cone, a prominent citizen of his
own district, who sought to force him to retract
his words spoken in opposition to the measure.
He also sought to settle a dispute with Herschel
V. Johnson and with Benjamin H. Hill by chal-
lenging them to meet him on the field of honor,
but neither would accept the call. He opposed
the policy of President Taylor ; supported the
Kansas- Nebraska bill in 1854 ; opposed Know-
nothingism in 1855 ; advocated the doctrine of
Senator Douglas, and in 1856 supported James
Buchanan. During the presidential canvass of
1860 he supported the candidacy of Stephen A.
Douglas for President, and was an elector-at-
large for Georgia on the Douglas and Johnson
ticket. On Nov. 30, 1860, a letter passed from
Abraham Lincoln of Springfield, 111., to Mr. Ste-
phens at Crawfordville, which led to a correspond-
ence in which the views of both statesmen were
fully expressed, but as Mr. Lincoln had marked
his second letter " For your own eye only," this
correspondence was not made public until after
the close of the war. Mr. Stephens opposed se-
cession, but proposed the state convention of
Jan. 16, 1861, that a full voice of the people
might be obtained, and he voted against seces-
sion with 88 other delegates, 208 voting for the
measure. He was appointed by this convention
a member of the proposed Provisional congress to
assemble at Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 4, 1861, and
was then chosen provisional Vice-President of the
proposed Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis as
President. On March 21, he spoke in Savannah
in favor of the upholding of the new Confederate
States constitution, declaring that its chief corner
stone was slavery ; and in April he urged upon
the Virginia state convention assembled at Ricli-
mond the adoption of the ordinance of secession.
The regular election for President and Vice-
