The "Cornerstone" referred is is the very foundation of the original United States Constitution. That is explained thoroughly by the speaker.
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.
Oh.
I thought he said that the Cornerstone of the NEW Confederate Constitution rested on the "great truth" that the natural condition of Black folks was to be owned as slaves by White people i.e. the Confederate Constitution ergo the whole system of Confederate government rested upon the rock of eternal enslavement of Black folks.
And of course making the perpetuation of slavery the very foundation of their whole Constitution had absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that chattel slavery was perceived to be a necessary prerequisite to cotton cultivation on a large scale, so physically unpleasant was the cultivation of that crop.
In fact they felt so strongly about how Black folks needed to be enslaved JUST ON PRINCIPLE that they devoted enormous energies for DECADES attempting to politically guarantee its perpetuation against an anticipated abolition by a growing Northern majority.
OK.
Birdwatcher
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
