Leveled Readings / Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech (1861)
Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech (1861)
Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech (1861)
These are adaptations, not the original. The original wording is always shown first. Each adapted version restates the same passage at about a grade 4, grade 7, or grade 10 reading level without adding or removing ideas. Quote the original in student writing.
Original wording
“…its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition.”
Adapted · about grade 4
Stephens said the new government was built on the idea that Black people were not equal and slavery was natural.
Adapted · about grade 7
Stephens said the new government's foundation was the claim that Black people are not equal to white people and that slavery is their natural condition.
Adapted · about grade 10
Stephens declared that the Confederacy's cornerstone rested on the claim that Black people are not equal to white people and that slavery is their natural and normal condition.
Used in: What caused the Civil War?