"A little, slim, pale-faced, consumptive man just concluded the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard." So said Congressman Abraham Lincoln about Alexander Hamilton Stephens.1 Stephens was born near Crawfordsville, Georgia on February 11, 1812. His mother died shortly a...

The United States of America began to see the effects of Anglo-French War by the early 1800's. This European quarrel began affecting the United States shipping industry. Britain and France were violating neutral shipping rights of American merchants. They thought of America as weak due to ...