The "Cornerstone" referred is is the very foundation of the original United States Constitution. That is explained thoroughly by the speaker.
Cotton was not nor had it been a Cornerstone of what what the speech was referring to.
At the time of the Cornerstone Speech, Alexander Stephens pointed out a flaw in the Constitution that had earlier been pointed out by Thomas Jefferson.. that was the slavery issue. The founders, signers of the original Constitution had chose to ignore the slavery issue hoping it would in time go away. Most all were slave owners.
As a side note, the owner of the greatest number of slaves in South Carolina was a Negro.
As the Constitution was written, it guaranteed freedoms laid out by the Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights applied to Untied States Citizens, still does. Do you see where this is going now?
Slaves captured and brought here by Dutch, Yankee Slave traders and sold to Southerners or anyone who wanted them, were never Citizens of The United States of America and were not guaranteed Constitutional Rights that Americans enjoyed at the time.
I guess the Constitution meant about as much then as it does now, what with the Negro in the White House, and the Negros in the Congress, and Justice Department.. tearing Lincoln's Union to pieces as days go by.
Don't see where my moral judgement or my wallet has anything to do with anything at this point in time.. other that the fact that my wallet grows thinner by the day as I support more and more Negro feeding, Negro rent, Negro healthcare, Negro education, and Negro phone bills.
Do you think at some point things will change for the better or do you think what with time the USofA will look like the Congo?
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson
