Thaddeus Stevens
(1792–1868)

Biographical Note...

U.S. politician and lawyer, congressman from Pennsylvania (1849-53, 1859-68). Thaddeus Stevens was a wealthy Pennsylvania lawyer when he entered the House of Representatives as a Whig in 1848. Early in 1850, his first speech against slavery immediately drew the admiration of his adversaries. "Our enemy . . . has a general now. This man is rich, therefore we cannot buy him . . . We cannot seduce him. . . We cannot allure him. . . He is in earnest. He means what he says. He is bold. He cannot be flattered or frightened." Growing impatient with the Whig Party's moderate positions, Stevens lost his congressional seat in 1853 and returned to Congress in 1859 as a Republican. Under Lincoln, Stevens served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. After the war, he led the Radical Republicans, opposing both Lincoln and then Andrew Johnson, endorsing military occupation of the South. He also insisted on rigid enforcement of new rights for African Americans, guiding the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. When Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment, Stevens led the call for his impeachment.

More Information...

READ a short biography of Thaddeus Stevens. READ some of Stevens senate speeches.

For further reading:

• The Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens : January 1814-March 1865 (Vol 1) -- Usually ships in 2-3 days
  Thaddeus Stevens, et al / Hardcover / Published 1997
• The Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens : April 1865-August 1868 (Vol 2)
  Thaddeus Stevens, et al / Hardcover / Published 1998 (Special Order)
• Thaddeus Stevens : Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian (Civil War America) -- Usually ships in 2-3 days
  Hans Louis Trefousse / Hardcover / Published 1997
• Great Leveler; The Life Of Thaddeus Stevens (History - United States)
  Thomas Frederick Woodley / Library Binding / Published 1937 (Special Order)

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