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Thaddeus Stevens

Born

in Danville, Vermont, The United States

April 04, 1792

Died

August 11, 1868

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Member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the American Civil War, he played a major part in the war's financing.

Stevens was born in rural Vermont, in poverty, and with a club foot, giving him a limp he kept his entire life. He moved to Pennsylvania as a young man, and quickly became a successful lawyer in Gettysburg. He interested himself in municipal affairs, and then in politics. H Member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the American Civil War, he played a major part in the war's financing.

Stevens was born in rural Vermont, in poverty, and with a club foot, giving him a limp he kept his entire life. He moved to Pennsylvania as a young man, and quickly became a successful lawyer in Gettysburg. He interested himself in municipal affairs, and then in politics. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he became a strong advocate of free public education. Financial setbacks in 1842 caused him to move his home and practice to the larger city of Lancaster. There, he joined the Whig Party, and was elected to Congress in 1848. His activities as a lawyer and politician in opposition to slavery cost him votes and he did not seek reelection in 1852. After a brief flirtation with the Know-Nothing Party, Stevens joined the newly formed Republican Party, and was elected to Congress again in 1858. There, with fellow radicals such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, he opposed the expansion of slavery and concessions to the South as war came.

Stevens argued that slavery should not survive the war; he was frustrated by the slowness of President Abraham Lincoln to support his position. He guided the government's financial legislation through the House as Ways and Means chairman. As the war progressed towards a northern victory, Stevens came to believe that not only should slavery be abolished, but that African-Americans should be given a stake in the South's future through the confiscation of land from planters to be distributed to the freedmen. His plans went too far for the Moderate Republicans, and were not enacted.

After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Stevens came into conflict with the new president, Johnson, who sought rapid restoration of the seceded states without guarantees for freedmen. The difference in views caused an ongoing battle between Johnson and Congress, with Stevens leading the Radical Republicans. After gains in the 1866 election the radicals took control of Reconstruction away from Johnson. Stevens's last great battle was to secure articles of impeachment in the House against Johnson, though the Senate did not convict the President. Historiographical views of Stevens have dramatically shifted over the years, from the early 20th-century view of Stevens as reckless and motivated by hatred of the white South, to the perspective of the neoabolitionists of the 1950s and afterwards, who applauded him for his ...more

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Thaddeus Stevens’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 6 ratings · 0 reviews · 47 distinct works

	The Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens Volume 2: April 1865-August 1868 by Thaddeus Stevens, Holly Byers Ochoa (Editor), Beverly W. Palmer (Editor) 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1998	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Selected Papers Of Thaddeus Stevens Volume 1: January 1814-March 1865 by Thaddeus Stevens, Beverly Palmer (Editor), Holly Ochoa (Editor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	State of the Union. Speech of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Government Contracts 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Free-Masonry Unmasked, or Minutes of the Trial of a Suit in the Court of Common Pleas of Adams County, Wherein Thaddeus Stevens, Esq. Was Plaintiff and Jacob Lefever, Defendant 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Speech of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania on the Bill to Raise Additional Soldiers 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Speech of Hon. T. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, Delivered in the House of Representatives, March 19, 1867: On the Bill (H.R. No. 20) Relative to Damages to Loyal Men, and for Other Purposes 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Report Of The Joint Committee On Reconstruction, At The First Session, Thirty-ninth Congress by Thaddeus Stevens, U.S. Congress (Creator), William Pitt Fessenden (Creator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Speech of Hon. T. Stevens, in reply to the attack on Gen. Hunter's letter. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Address Delivered on the Fourth of July, 1835: at an Anti-Masonic Celebration of the Anniversary of American Independence; Composed of About 2,000 ... Given by Citizens of Pittsburg, &c. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Thaddeus Stevens…

Series by Thaddeus Stevens

Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens (2 books)
by

Thaddeus Stevens,

Holly Byers Ochoa (Editor),

Beverly W. Palmer (Editor),

Beverly Palmer (Editor),

Holly Ochoa (Editor)

4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings

Quotes by Thaddeus Stevens (?)

“Do you inquire why, holding these views and possessing some will of my own, i accept so imperfect a proposition? I answer, because I live among men and not among angels.”
― Thaddeus Stevens

tags: united-states-congressman

6 likes

“I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries limited as to race, by charter rules, I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life, equality of man before his Creator.”
― thaddeus stevens

5 likes

“Nothing is as prolix as ignorance.”
― Thaddeus Stevens

tags: maxims

2 likes

See all Thaddeus Stevens's quotes »

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