STEPHENS, stevenz, Alexander Hamil ton, American statesman: b. near Crawfords ville, Wilkes County, Ga., 11 Feb. 1812; d. At lanta, Ga., 4 March 1883. He was of Scotch Irish ancestry; his grandfather, a youthful ad herent of the House of Stuart, came to Penn sylvania in 1746, fought under Washington in the French and Indian War and in the Revo lution, reaching the rank of captain; late in life he migrated to Georgia. His son, a schoolmaster of humble circumstances, was the father of Alexander and died when the latter was 15 years of age. Alexander was prepared for college by a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Alex ander Hamilton Webster, and at the age of 16 he entered Franklin College (now the Univer sity of Georgia), a Presbyterian educational society paying his expenses with the under standing that he would become a minister. In 1832 Stephens was graduated with first honors, and having decided not to enter the ministry, he taught school for two years in order to pay for his education. In 1834, after three months' preparation, he passed a brilliant examination and was admitted to the bar. As a lawyer he soon attained marked success and was then drawn into politics. An opponent of the policy of nullification he was one of the leaders in organizing the Whig party in Georgia; he was a member of the State legislature, 1836-42;. in 1839 a delegate to the Charleston Commercial Convention; and in 1843 was elected to Con gress on a general ticket. In 1838-39 he fa vored the annexation of Texas by joint resolu tion, but in 1844 he opposed Tyler's treaty of annexation and in the next year he framed the measure that secured the annexation. Though opposing Polk's policy in the Mexican War he considered the results of that war fortunate for the South. In Congress he fought the principle of the Wilmot Proviso, and was in fluential in bringing about the Compromise of 1850 which he considered a repeal of the Mis souri Compromise. He opposed the strong "Southern Rights" movement that threatened to result in secession in 1850 and drafted the celebrated °Georgia platform° in which the State constitutional convention declared that while not entirely satisfied with the Compro mise of 1850, Georgia was anxious to remain in the Union, though further encroachment upon her rights would result in secession. In
1852, Stephens, with other prominent Southern Whigs, signed a declaration that they would not support General Scott, the Whig nominee for President, because he did not approve the Compromise of 1850 as a final settlement of the questions involved. This stand broke up the Whig party in the South. Stephens and his colleague Toombs voted for Daniel Webster after he was dead. Holding the same views as Douglas in regard to the territories Stephens pushed through the House (1854) the Kansas Nebraska bill. After 1854 he acted with the Democrats in opposing the formation of the American or Know-Nothing party out of the wreck of the Whig organization. Though he disliked Buchanan, Stephens supported his ad ministration until 1859 when foreseeing a pro longed conflict over slavery he retired from Congress. In Congress he was a moderate pro-slavery man, not disposed to make extreme demands for theoretical rights. In 1860 he was on the Douglas electoral ticket and in Georgia he led the opposition to secession both before the people and in the Georgia conven tion, where, though asserting the right of the State to secede, he declared that conditions did not then justify a resort to that remedy. When his State seceded he acquiesced, was elected to the Confederate Provisional Congress by which he was chosen vice-president of the provisional government, and was sent to ar range a treaty between the Confederacy and Virginia. In 1862 he was elected vice-president under the permanent Constitution of the Con federate States. He was unable to reconcile his theories of government wirn conditions of war and was often at variance with President on questions of war policy and State rights. In consequence the elements of oppo sition to the Davis administration gathered around him, but he had little influence during the war. In 1864 Stephens, his half brother, Linton Stephens, Robert Toombs and Joseph E.