[Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens was a Congressman from Pennsylvania and one of the primary champions of Congressional measures like the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Reconstruction Act of 1867. Congress must create In this, Stevens was zealous, but well outside of the mainstream of Northern opinion, a fact that would shape the mixed record of accomplishment and frustration that followed. Updates? of Thaddeus Stevens, Vol. <> He was the second son born to Sarah and Joshua Stevens, who disappeared when his son was a young boy, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves with very little money. have turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves During the last century Russia has been blessed with most remarkable emperors, who have generally decreed wise and just laws, but Russia is not free. . University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998). I would not for a moment inculcate the idea of surrendering a principle vital to justice. The abolition of slavery slowly became Steven's primary political focus and, as a result, he emerged as one of the nation's most militant Radical Republicans. No one then pretended that the eleven States had any rights under the Constitution of the United States, or any right to interfere in the legislation of the country. No Government official, from the President and Chief Justice down, can do anyone act which is not prescribed and directed by the legislative power. Twenty years ago I denounced it as a despotism. The infernal laws of slavery have prevented them from Beyond this I do not agree that the policy of the parties are defined. Analytical Services; Analytical Method Development and Validation inveterate rebels are invited to participate in our legislation. In the speech below which Stevens gave in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 1867 supporting the Reconstruction bill then being debated, he issued a response to those who said his call was radical and incendiary with a now famous quotation: " I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. No former laws, no former compacts or treaties existed to bind the belligerents. Congress and in the Electoral college. I pronounce it no nearer to a true Republic now when twenty-five million of a privileged class exclude five million from all participation in the rights of government. Though many Northerners were ambivalent about African American suffrage, the Black Codes turned public opinion against Johnson and his moderate approach to Reconstruction. . How far their liabilities remained there was more difference of opinion. This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets. Instead of seeking the quick reconciliation that Lincoln and Johnson promoted, Stevens was comfortable both with the process of Southern reintegration taking years and with Congress being the final arbiter of when each Southern state could rejoin the nation. The Meaning of Emancipation in the Reconstruction Era K. A. Cuordileone New York City College of Technology, CUNY Overview The end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery raised complicated issues and dilemmas for Americans during the Reconstruction era (1865-1877). They are all asserted, in some form or other, in our DECLARATION or organic law. our republican Government firm and stable forever. RECONSTRUCTION. Steven called for action and change but deadlock in congress blocked his agenda. Their subjects had liberty of motion and of labor, but the laws were made without and against their will; but I must declare that, in my judgment, they were as really free governments as ours is to-day. Ooops. That is a matter of taste which every man must decide for himself. But if full justice could not be obtained at once I would not refuse to do what is possible. The infernal laws of slavery have prevented them from acquiring an education, understanding the common laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business of life. The commander of an army who should find his enemy intrenched on impregnable heights would act unwisely if he insisted on marching his troops full in the face of a destructive fire merely to show his courage. . to the territorial Legislatures, they will necessarily mingle There is not one word in the Constitution that gives one particle of anything but judicial and executive power to any other department of Government but Congress. During the dictatorship of Pericles his laws were just, but Greece was not free. If impartial suffrage is excluded in the rebel States then everyone of them is sure to send a solid rebel representative delegation to Congress, and cast a solid rebel electoral vote. Beverly Wilson Palmer and Holly Byers Ochoa, eds., The Selected Papers In the Reformation there were men engaged as able and perhaps more learned than Martin Luther. electors; and I know of no better place nor better homesteads, and hedge them around with protective laws; With them the blacks would act in a body; and it is believed that in each of said States, except one, the two united would form a majority, control the States, and protect themselves. Congress also prescribes the rules and regulations to govern the Army. . Not in the Executive, for he only executes and cannot make laws. As an important member of the new Republicans, Stevens became actively involved in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves escape to Canada. That time ought to be present now. . 251-252. . Not all of the ideas Stevens voiced in his speech were implemented. They had all been melted and consumed in the fierce fires of the terrible war. governed by martial law. It matters but little, with this admission, whether you call them States out of the Union, and now conquered territories, or assert that because the Constitution forbids them to do what they did do, that they are therefore only dead as to all national and political action, and will remain so until the Government shall breathe into them the breath of life anew and permit them to occupy their former position. Citizens replaced the foundations of slavery that formerly supported Southern states . Now they are the victims of daily murder. They have torn their constitutional States into atoms, and built on their foundations fabrics of a totally different character. On April 11, 1835, Thaddeus Stevens gave a speech in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in defense of the Free Schools Act of 1834. Military rule is necessarily despotic, and ought not to exist longer than is absolutely necessary. This is a bill designed to enable loyal men, so far as I could discriminate them in these States, to form governments which shall be in loyal hands, that they may protect themselves from such outrages as I have mentioned. Image Details The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, comprising members from the House and Senate, gathered testimony on conditions in the South from 144 witnesses. Simply allowing the Southern states to rejoin the Union upon the acceptance of federal sovereignty by ten percent of voters and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was not even close to sufficient for Stevens, who, like many in the North, held the Southerners completely responsible for four years of unprecedented bloodshed. Melancthon and others were ripe scholars and sincere reformers, but none of them had his courage. In what have we taught them the science and granted them the privilege of self-government? On his tombstone were carved the words he had composed, explaining that he had chosen this place so that he might illustrate in death the principle he had advocated throughout a long life; namely, Equality of man before his Creator., United States politician and military officer. practice justice to all men, and accustom themselves to make If any State shall exclude any of her adult male citizens from the elective franchise, or abridge that right, she shall forfeit her right to representation in the same proportion. . BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. In 1868, he led the charge to impeach Johnson, who was narrowly acquitted in the Senate. The Civil Rights Act became the first major piece of legislation to be passed despite a president's veto. %PDF-1.5 Stevens had a difficult childhood; in addition to growing up fatherless, he was poor and had a club foot. My only objection to it is that it is too lenient. Among the people I believe it will be the most popular of all the provisions; it prohibits rebels from voting for members of Congress and electors of President until 1870. Congress denies that any State lately in rebellion has any government or constitution known to the Constitution of the United States , or which can be recognized as part of the Union. Thus much I have said at the outset of my remarks, which shall not be very long. The veto power is no exception; it is merely a power to compel a reconsideration. True, some of those governors were illegally appointed, being civilians. For these, among other reasons, I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. For while some in Congress may have believed that enough was done to assist them already simply by being freed, the only thing essentially done was what was morally right (the bare minimum) by freeing them of the confinements of dependence they had been succumbed to, and then leaving them . The next day Watson went to the employer of the colored man and complained. What can be plainer? The [members of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction] are not ignorant of the fact that there has been some impatience at the delay in making this report . Stevens attended Peacham Academy, where he excelled in his academics, and then enrolled at Dartmouth College. government for some years, I know of no arrangement so Nearly six years ago a bloody war arose between different sections of the United States. proper for them as territorial governments. I am now confining my arguments to negro suffrage in the rebel States. That decision has unsheathed the dagger of the assassin and places the knife of the rebel at the throat of every man who dares proclaim himself to be now, or to have been heretofore, a loyal Union man. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives during Abraham Lincoln's presidency, fought to abolish slavery and helped draft the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction. And I need hardly say that the first time that the South with their copperhead allies obtain the command of Congress it will be repealed. Then each House must judge whether the members But I never dreamed that all punishment could be dispensed with in human society. An ancient philosopher, whose antagonist admitted that what he required was just but deemed it impolitic, asked him: Do you believe in Hades? I would say to those above referred to, who admit the justice of human equality before the law but doubt its policy: Do you believe in heIl?. The film claims that it was "Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln . . . Throughout this period Stevens urged that Southern plantations be taken from their owners and that part of the land be divided among freedmen, with proceeds of the balance to be used toward paying off the national war debt; this confiscation plan failed, however, to gain congressional support. The President assumes, what no one doubts, that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional relations to the Union, and are incapable of representation in Congress, except by permission of the Government. But this step forward is an assault upon ignorance and prejudice, and timid men shrink from it. <> governments for them. One of the most atrocious murderers that has ever been let loose upon any community has lately been liberated under this very decision, because the Government extended it, perhaps according to the proper construction, to the conquered States as well as to the loyal States. It means, as understood by honest Republicans, just this much, and no more: every man, no matter what his race or color; every earthly being who has an immortal soul, has an equal right to justice, honesty, and fair play with every other man; and the law should secure him these rights. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1814, removed to York, Pennsylvania, was admitted to the bar (in Maryland), and for fifteen years practiced at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. If, perchance, the accumulated quicksands render it impossible to reach in every part so firm a basis, then it becomes our duty to drive deep and solid the substituted piles on which to build. Explore our new 15-unit high school curriculum. No sane man believed that they had any organic or municipal laws which the United States were bound to respect. Mr. Speaker, that charge, as I have stated, is. 2 0 obj Thaddeus Stevens, (born April 4, 1792, Danville, Vermont, U.S.died August 11, 1868, Washington, D.C.), U.S. That they will hardly get. The confederate States claimed no rights unless they could conquer them by the contest of arms.
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