Alternative History
Alexander Stephens
Alexander Stephens -1855
2nd President of the Confederate States
In office
February 22, 1868 – February 22, 1874
Vice PresidentJudah P. Benjamin
Preceded byJefferson Davis
Succeeded byJudah P. Benjamin
1st Vice President of the Confederate States
In office
February 22, 1862 – February 22, 1868
PresidentJefferson Davis
Preceded byposition created
Succeeded byJudah P. Benjamin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia
In office
October 2, 1843 – March 3, 1859
Preceded byMark Anthony Cooper
Succeeded byJohn James Jones
Personal details
Born February 11, 1812
Crawfordville, Georgia, U.S.
Died March 4, 1883 (aged 71)
Atlanta, Georgia, C.S.
Political party Dixiecrat

Alexander Hamilton Stephens (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was the second president of the Confederate States, serving from 1868 to 1874. A member of the Dixiecrat Party, he previously served as Vice President under Jefferson Davis' administration from 1862 to 1868.

Stephens attended Franklin College and established a legal practice in his home town of Crawfordville, Georgia. After serving in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly, he won election to Congress, taking his seat in 1843. He became a leading Southern Whig and strongly opposed the Mexican–American War. After the war, Stephens was a prominent supporter of the Compromise of 1850 and helped draft the Georgia Platform, which opposed secession. A proponent of the expansion of slavery into the territories, Stephens also helped pass the Kansas–Nebraska Act. As the Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s, Stephens eventually joined the Democratic Party and worked with President James Buchanan to admit Kansas as a state under the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution (which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a referendum in that state).

Stephens declined to seek re-election in 1858, but continued to publicly advocate against secession. After Georgia and other Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, Stephens finally turned his coat and was elected as the Confederate Vice President. Stephens's Cornerstone Speech of March 1861 defended slavery.

Following the Davis administration, Stephen was chosen as the President's and the Pro-Administration's successor. Stephens won the election of 1867, taking each of the 11 states.

The Stephens administration changed the Confederacy focus from international affairs to internal affairs. Under his presidency, the Confederacy worked on establishing more railroads, and the expansion of industry. Also during the Stephens administration the Indian Territory gained statehood, becoming the state of Sequoyah, while former northern Mexican states were acquired as territories

Alexander Stephen's statue

Alexander H. Stephens statue located at the Confederate Capital, outside the Vice President's Office.

One of the major political issues facing Stephens during his term was the issue of slavery, as abolitionist support began to grow in the in the 1870s. President Stephens and many members of his administration and the congress were in favor of slavery. Yet many of them preferred to keep quiet on the topic in fear of risking their trade partnerships with Europe. This lack of stance on the issue led to both the pro and anti slavery camps unsatisfied and Stephens left office with only moderate support in the Confederacy.

Following his presidency, Stephens returned to Georgia, where he took the role of a state political boss influencing political decisions from his home Bachelor's Hall on till his death in 1883.