In his interpretation of Southern goals at the outset of the War Between the States, Harry Jaffa places great emphasis on a speech delivered by Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens in March 1861. In this speech, according to Jaffa, Stephens maintained that science supported the doctrine that blacks were an inferior race. Quite the contrary, Jaffa claims that Lincoln was a strong defender of private property and the free market. But how does Jaffa get from this thesis to the contention that Lincoln was a great defender of the free market? In a free market, people do not start with equal opportunity: would Jaffa support changes in this situation to ensure a more equal start?