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Alexander Hamilton Stephens (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was an American politician from Georgia and Vice President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He also served as a U.S. Representative from Georgia (both before the Civil War and after Reconstruction) and as the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. He was an old Whig Party friend and ally of Abraham Lincoln. They met in the closing days of the Civil War but could not come to terms. ==Early life and career== Alexander H. Stephens was born on February 11, 1812.〔Memoirs of Georgia (Atlanta: Southern Historical Association, 1895), Vol. I, p. 238.〕 His parents were Andrew Baskins Stephens and Margaret Grier.〔Biographical Sketch of Linton Stephens (Atlanta: Dodson & Scott, 1877), p. 3.〕 The Stephenses lived on a farm near present-day Crawfordville, Taliaferro County, Georgia. At the time of Alexander Stephens's birth, the farm was part of Wilkes County. Taliaferro County was created in 1825 from land in Greene, Hancock, Oglethorpe, Warren, and Wilkes counties. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Georgia at 12 years of age, in 1795. According to the ''Biographical Sketch of Linton Stephens'' (Linton Stephens being Alexander Stephens's half-brother), Andrew B. Stephens was "endowed with uncommon intellectual faculties; he had sound practical judgment; he was a safe counselor, sagacious, self-reliant, candid and courageous."〔Biographical Sketch of Linton Stephens, p. 3.〕 His mother, a Georgia native and sister of ''Grier's Almanac'' founder Robert Grier, died in 1812 at the age of 26; Alexander Stephens was only three months old. In the introduction to ''Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens'', there is this about his mother and her family: "Margaret came of folk who had a liking for books, and a turn for law, war, and meteorology."〔Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens: His Diary Kept When a Prisoner... (New York: Doubleday, 1910), p. 3.〕 The introduction continues: "In her son's character was a marked blending of parental traits. He (Stephens ) was thrifty, generous, progressive; one of the best lawyers in the land; a reader and collector of books; a close observer of the weather, and father of the Weather Bureau of the United States."〔Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens, pp. 3–4.〕 In 1814, Andrew B. Stephens married Matilda Lindsay, daughter of Revolutionary War Colonel John Lindsay.〔Biographical Sketch of Linton Stephens, pp. 3–4.〕 In 1826, when Alexander Stephens was 14 years old, his father, Andrew, and stepmother, Matilda, died only days apart in May of that year. Their deaths caused him and several siblings to be scattered among relatives. He grew up poor and in difficult circumstances. Not long after the deaths of his father and his stepmother, Alexander Stephens was sent to live with his mother's other brother, General Aaron W. Grier, near Raytown (Taliaferro County), Georgia. General Grier had inherited his own father's library, said to be "the largest library in all that part of the country."〔Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens, p.3.〕 Alexander Stephens, who read voraciously even as a youth, mentions the library in his "Recollections." Frail but precocious, the young Stephens acquired his continued education through the generosity of several benefactors. One of them was the Presbyterian minister Alexander Hamilton Webster, who presided over a school in Washington (Wilkes County), Georgia. Out of respect for his mentor, Stephens adopted Webster's middle name, Hamilton, as his own. Stephens attended the Franklin College (later the University of Georgia) in Athens, where he was roommates with Crawford W. Long and a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society. He graduated at the top of his class in 1832. After several unhappy years teaching school, he took up legal studies, passed the bar in 1834, and began a successful career as a lawyer in Crawfordville. During his 32 years of practice, he gained a reputation as a capable defender of the wrongfully accused. None of his clients charged with capital crimes were executed. One notable case was that of a slave woman accused of attempted murder. Stephens volunteered to defend her. Despite the circumstantial evidence presented against her, Stephens won an acquittal for the woman. Stephens was extremely sickly throughout his life. Though his adult height was 5 feet 7 inches, he often weighed less than 100 pounds.〔James M. McPherson, ''Battle Cry of Freedom'' (New York: Ballantine Books, 1989), p. 74, gives his weight as 90 pounds.〕 As his wealth increased, Stephens began acquiring land and slaves. By the time of the Civil War, Stephens owned 34 slaves and several thousand acres. He entered politics in 1836, and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, serving there until 1841. In 1842, he was elected to the Georgia State Senate. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alexander H. Stephens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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