Thaddeus Stevens was born in 1792 to a poor Vermont family. Stevens moved to Pennsylvania and is thought to have aided the Underground Railroad.
"I learn that the manstealers of Lancaster have taken measures to obtain authority from Maryland ... to arrest and take into slavery two colored girls ... There is a regular chain of agents and spies of the slaveholders in this and all adjoining counties. I have a spy on the spies and thus ascertain the facts ... These are the eighth set of slaves I have warned within a week"
(Thaddeus Stevens 1846) |
Stevens hired Lydia Smith, a light-skinned black woman, as his housekeeper. Stevens treated Smith as an equal partner. Circumstantial evidence shows their relationship was intimate. Some believe Smith was the reason Stevens fought for equal rights.
"Nobody doubts that Thaddeus Stevens has always been in favor of negro equality, and here, where his domestic arrangements are so well known, his practical recognition of his pet theory is perfectly well understood. ... A personage, not of his race, a female of dusky hue, daily walks the streets of Lancaster when Mr. Stevens is at home ... she is constantly spoken of as Mrs. Stevens." (Lancaster Intelligencer 1868)
"I have only to say that the whole is without foundation ..." (Thaddeus Stevens 1867)
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During the Civil War, Stevens became the Radical Republicans' leader. Radicals wanted to improve the rights of blacks and punish the South for leaving the Union. Stevens fought to abolish slavery, obtain equal rights for blacks, defeat the South by force, and give property to slaves. He wanted "radical reorganization of southern institutions, habits, and manners." (Thaddeus Stevens 1865) Stevens was an impressive speaker with an intimidating personality. "Stevens is over seventy, sharp-faced, grim-looking .... He is witty, cool, full of and fond of 'sarcasms', and thoroughly informed and accurate. He has a knack of saying things which turn the laugh on his opponent. When he rises everyone expects something worth hearing, and he has the attention of all ... He is the leader." (Congressman and future President Rutherford B. Hayes 1865) |
"The enemy has a general now. This man is rich, therefore we cannot buy him. He does not want higher offices, therefore we cannot allure him. He is not vicious, therefore we cannot seduce him. He is in earnest. He means what he says. He is bold. He cannot be flattered or frightened." (Thomas Howell Cobb founder of Confederate States of America 1850)
At his death, Stevens was as famous as Abraham Lincoln. Stevens became the third person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, following Henry Clay and Lincoln. In tribute, Lancaster nominated and then elected Stevens to Congress after his death. "His name, with that of Lincoln, will ever be remembered with the warmest emotions of gratitude by this and succeeding generations... when others now esteemed great shall have been forgotten... the labors and achievements of his life have rendered him immortal." (Josiah Sypher. New York Tribune 1868) The South was less complimentary.
"The prayers of the righteous have at last removed the Congressional curse!" ( Planter's Banner, Franklin, Louisiana 1868) |
Stevens felt responsibility for equal rights even in death, choosing a cemetery that allowed all races.
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 Inscription on Thaddeus Stevens' Grave 1868 |