S.

sent rebellion is han thirty years' 1 with Calhoun, in private life, f the representaugh secretly felt

venth, 1812, and >sing and studyained a lucrative In 1836, he was himself in securas his popularity t as a delegate to which he took a

orgia and South

tests of these two and while acting Whig party, as he 354. In 1843, he mocratic and his personal strength and majority, and his ability are atgress until his vol

ivass of 1844, but 3, in opposition to 1 Congress. Upon Democratic Repreo equal parts, from ens (January tenth, the rules for its ad

A

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.

LTHOUGH the position held by Mr. Stephens in the present rebellion is

but nominal, yet, taking into view the whole of the more than thirty years' war which preceded it, he will hereafter be named in connection with Calhoun, of whom he was a faithful follower. For some years he has been in private life, yet he has always been one of the most efficient and sagacious of the representatives of the Southern policy, and his influence was powerfully though secretly felt in bringing about the issue of the struggle.

He was born in Taliaferro County, Georgia, February eleventh, 1812, and graduated at Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, in 1832. Choosing and studying the law, he was admitted to the bar in 1834, and soon obtained a lucrative practice in the town of Crawfordsville, in his native county. In 1836, he was sent to the Georgia House of Representatives, where he exerted himself in securing legislative aid for certain internal improvements; and such was his popularity that he was reëlected for five successive terms. In 1839, he went as a delegate to the Southern Commercial Convention, held at Charleston, in which he took a prominent part in the quarrel which then existed between Georgia and SouthCarolina relative to a real or supposed conflict between the interests of these two States. Three years after, (1842,) he was chosen State Senator, and while acting in that capacity he was a zealous supporter and member of the Whig party, as he continued to be until the close of the Nebraska struggle of 1854. In 1843, he was nominated for Congress, and although his district was Democratic and his party had previously been in a minority of two thousand, his personal strength with the people gave him the election by more than three thousand majority, and his faithfulness to his section and the popular appreciation of his ability are attested by the fact that he held his seat as representative in Congress until his voluntary retirement in 1859.

He was a supporter of Henry Clay in the Presidential canvass of 1844, but was also a prominent advocate of the plan for annexing Texas, in opposition to Mr. Clay and to most of the Southern members of his party in Congress. Upon a motion by Mr. John P. Hale, of New-Hampshire - then a Democratic Representative — that the new territory of Texas be divided into two equal parts, from one of which slavery should be for ever excluded, Mr. Stephens (January tenth, 1845) voted, with but two others from the South, to suspend the rules for its ad