To maintain that Slavery is in itself sinful, in the face of all that is said and written in the Bible upon the subject, with so many sanctions of the relation by the Deity himself, does not seem to me to be little short of blasphemous! It is a direct imputation upon the wisdom and justice, as well as the declared ordinances, of God, as they are written in the inspired oracles, to say nothing of their manifestations in the universe around us.

— Alexander H. Stephens (1812-1883), Vice President, Confederate States of America