Alex Stephens is a largely-forgotten figure (probably about as well-known as Benjamin Butler), so it's strange that people who normally wouldn't even
mention his opinions on anything -- and certainly wouldn't
agree with them -- will suddenly act as if he is The Ultimate Authority when it suits their needs.
Strange, too, how Stephens' words spoken at one moment in time are taken (by some) as the definitive symbol for the views of millions of other people, both in the 1860s and since then. I could play a similar game with certain words spoken by Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, and other Northern/Union leaders of that era. You should all see the reaction that some of Lincoln's words, especially, have on certain people who dislike/despise the Confederacy. Lincoln could be very -- how to say this? --
candid on the subject of how blacks and whites should best get along. The historically-curious can do the reserach for themselves, or just order it online from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Forced-into-Glory-...7&sr=1-1#_
Of course, these are not the words engraved on Lincoln's monuments, or quoted in the grade-school textbooks, so some people refuse to accept -- they simply
Cannot Believe -- that Lincoln said them. But even if they could be shown the proof and forced to realize that he said these things in public speeches, letters to his Army officers, Cabinet-members, newspaper editors, constituents, etc., I still doubt it would change their minds. The status of Lincoln + his supporters as the Good White People (and the corollary status of the Confederates as the Bad White People) are articles of faith with them, and all the evidence that doesn't fit with that faith is simply blotted out of their little minds as too painful or confusing to deal with.
In fairness to Lincoln, he was a politician; a man who said a great many things, and what he said on Wednesday to Mr. Douglas may not necessarily have been what he said on Saturday to Mr. Douglass. I do not think he should be judged solely on the basis of his "worst" deeds or his "worst" words or impulses. I just wish the critics of Alexander Stephens (and other CSA leaders) would extend him, and them, the same courtesy.
