other truths in the various departments of science. Stephens stated that the Confederacy's belief in human inequality was adhering to the "laws of nature": May we not therefore look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgement of the truths upon which our system rests? It is the first government ever instituted upon the principles in strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence, in furnishing the materials of human society. Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the same race; such were and are in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature's laws. The phrases "laws of nature" and "all men are created equal" from the U.S. Declaration of Independence had formed part of the basis of Lincoln's assertion that he was defending the principles of the Founding Fathers by being opposed to slavery. Democrats such as John C. Calhoun and Stephen A. Douglas had differing views on what the latter phrase meant. Calhoun had contended that the idea was peculiar to Thomas Jefferson and not a universal principle, whereas Douglas maintained that it referred to white men only. In this context, Stephens' assertion has been read as validating Lincoln's interpretation of the U.S. Founding Fathers' principles, but countering with an assertion of "racial inequality". After the Confederacy's defeat at the hands of the U.S. in the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Stephens attempted to retroactively deny and retract the opinions he had stated in the speech. Denying his earlier statements that slavery was the Confederacy's cause for leaving the Union, he contended to the contrary that he thought that the war was rooted in constitutional differences as detailed below. Constitutional differences Economic In the speech, Stephens also outlined how the Confederate constitution eliminated the tariff and prohibited the central government from spending on internal improvements. The reasoning was on a states' rights argument, with the Georgia Railroad as a first example: The cost of the grading, the superstructure, and the equipment of our roads was borne by those who had entered into the enterprise. Nay, more not only the cost of the iron—no small item in the aggregate cost—was borne in the same way, but we were compelled to pay into the common treasury several millions of dollars for the privilege of importing the iron, after the price was