UJxCA**]=#TSWr];227~|}&Y&QHV +JG{4ef1R+2#{2yTy$H. governed by martial law. . Now, Mr. Speaker, unless Congress proceeds at once to do something to protect these people from the barbarians who are now daily murdering them; who are murdering the loyal whites daily and daily putting into secret graves not only hundreds but thousands of the colored people of that country; unless Congress proceeds at once to adopt some means for their protection, I ask you and every man who loves liberty whether we will not be liable to the just censure of the world for our negligence or our cowardice or our want of ability to do so? Whatever law punishes a white man for a crime shall punish the black man precisely in the same way and to the same degree. This amendment once adopted cannot be annulled without two thirds of Congress. The legislative power is the sole guardian of that sovereignty. 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. Is their judgment misled by their kindness; or are they unconsciously drifting into the haven of power at the other end of the avenue? The leader of the Radical Republicans in the House, Stevens was a lawyer, politician, and staunch abolitionist. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. power, we shall deserve and receive the execration of Unless the law of nations is a dead letter, the late war between two acknowledged belligerents severed their original compacts and broke all the ties that bound them together. Inaugurated on a cold March day 1853. Corrections? SUMMARY On May 8, 1866, Thaddeus Stevens delivered this speech introducing the 14thAmendment in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is to be regretted that inconsiderate and incautious Republicans should ever have supposed that the slight amendments already proposed to the Constitution, even when incorporated into that instrument, would satisfy the reforms necessary for the security of the Government. What madness! The first two years of Congressional Reconstruction saw Southern states rewrite their Constitutions and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. He insists that those of our people who were plundered and their property burned or destroyed by rebel raiders shall not be indemnified, but shall bear their own loss, while the rebels shall retain their own property, most of which was declared forfeited by the Congress of the United States. 2 April 1865-August 1868 (Pittsburgh: Now they are the victims of daily murder. It portrayed a strident vision of the Reconstruction era, wherein the defeated Southern states were not welcomed back with open arms, and their rights would remain curtailed until Congress saw fit to restore them. When Stevens rose to speak in the House of Representatives on December 18, 1865, his opposition to Johnson's Reconstruction plan was already well known. They each raised more than half a million armed men. . As a leader in Congress, Stevens fought to end slavery and promote civil rights and racial equality. But the Constitution limits only the action of Congress, and is not a limitation on the States. The papers of lawyer and United States representative from Pennsylvania Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) consist of 4,750 items (7,769 images) in eight containers and one oversize folder. ; Hon. . Some answer, Your civil rights bill [the Civil Rights Act of 1866] secures the same things. That is partly true, but a law is repealable by a majority. In rebuilding, it is necessary to clear away the rotten and defective portions of the old foundations, and to sink deep and found the repaired edifice upon the firm foundation of eternal justice. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Citizens replaced the foundations of slavery that formerly supported Southern states . In . An Address Delivered to the Citizens of Lancaster, Sept. 6, 1865. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The day before the Pennsylvania Senate had voted to repeal this act, but Stevens' speech moved the state House to vote against repeal and the Senate to take another vote in support of free public schools. 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. Though Commander- in-Chief by the Constitution, he would have nothing to command, either by land or water, until Congress raised both Army and Navy. This doctrine does not mean that a negro shall sit on the same seat or eat at the same table with a white man. Congress must create Stevens became a natural leader in Congress and served as a member of the House until his death in 1868. There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. That is a matter of taste which every man must decide for himself. % Whose especial duty is it to do it? No said he , I claim the right to chastise the scoundrel. He followed the colored man, took out his revolver, and deliberately shot him dead in the presence of that community. As an important member of the new Republicans, Stevens became actively involved in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves escape to Canada. the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make it They formed an entirely new constitution; a new and distinct government, called the confederate States of America. They passed their own laws, without regard to any former national connection. By 1861, as the civil war began, Stevens was responsible for its financing as chairman of the committee on ways and means. if we leave them to the legislation of their late masters, 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. [Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens was a Congressman from Pennsylvania who long opposed slavery and advocated for black suffrage. In 1849, Stevens was elected, as a Whig, to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. to the territorial Legislatures, they will necessarily mingle 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. Stevens was an opponent of slavery before the war and after the war sought to secure the rights of the newly freed population in the former Confederacy. 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 . In No other branch of the Government, no other Department, no other officer of the Government, possesses one single particle of the sovereignty of the nation. Military rule is necessarily despotic, Possibly with their aid loyal governments may be established in most of those States. Against our will they have been absent for four bloody years; against our will they must not come back until we are ready to receive them. Updates? . As a politician in Pennsylvania, he supported free public education and suffrage for African Americans. Call Us Today! They must come in as new states or remain as conquered provinces. If it be just, it should not be denied; if it be necessary, it should be adopted; if it be a punishment to traitors, they deserve it. The entire speech appears below. requisite qualifications of age, residence, and citizenship; Two years after moving to Pennsylvania, Stevens was admitted to the bar and began practicing in Gettysburg. Thaddeus Stevens speech of December 18 1865; Address of a convention of Negroes held in Alexandria Virginia August 1865; Alexander Stephens on Reconstruction April 11 1866; Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction June 20 1866; Charles Sumner Opinion on the trial of Andrew Johnson 1868 Congress and in the Electoral college. <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S>> The Economy also feel with the panic of 1854. 2023 National Constitution Center. The confederate armies and government surrendered unconditionally. representation among the States from Federal numbers to The Black Codes passed in those states to keep the freed slaves from exercising their new freedoms further angered the Radical Republicansand even most moderate Republicans. For I believe, on my conscience, that on the continued ascendancy of that party depends the safety of this great nation. There they can proper for them as territorial governments. Excerpts from Henry Carey The Harmony of Interests Agricultural, Manufacturing & Commercial 1851, Excerpts from Henrey Carey The Slave Trade Domestic and Foreign 1853, Excerpt from Frederick Law Olmsted A journey in the Seaboard Slave States 1856, The Constitution of the Confederate States of America 1861, McClellan Letter to Lincoln on His Evacuation from the Penninsula Campaign 1862, Thaddeus Stevens speech of December 18 1865, Address of a convention of Negroes held in Alexandria Virginia August 1865, Alexander Stephens on Reconstruction April 11 1866, Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction June 20 1866, Charles Sumner Opinion on the trial of Andrew Johnson 1868, Exerpt from James W. Grimes Opinion on the Trial of Andrew Johnson 1868, Resolutions of a meeting of the Illinois State Farmers' Association April 1873. In either case, it is very plain that it requires the action of Congress to enable I them to form a State government and send representatives to Congress. Later that year, on August 11, Stevens died in Washington and was buried near his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. . Congress alone can do it. No one then supposed that those States had any governments, except such as they had formed under their rebel organization. Stevens's Reconstruction efforts were resisted by President Andrew Johnson, which frustrated the congressman and prompted him to fight back against the president; Stevens introduced the resolution for President Johnson's impeachment and chaired the committee responsible for drafting impeachment articles. Are such men fit to sit in the places of statesmen? He also offered his home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. By 1866, the Radical Republicans had taken significant control of Congress, due in no small part to Stevens's leadership. . suffrage. . . The President claims the right to exercise them. The same law which gives a verdict in a White mans favor should give a verdict in a black mans favor on the same state of facts. Thaddeus Stevens on black suffrage, 1867 From speech of Thaddeus Stevens (R-Pa) in the House of Representatives, January 3, 1867. 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. The convention of southern loyalists, lately held in Philadelphia, almost unanimously agreed to such a bill as an absolute necessity. I. Thaddeus Stevens was born in Danville, Vermont, on April 4, 1792. Finally, Stevens turned his attention to the plight of the former slaves who, though free, were without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets. Rather than looking for Congress to help the Confederates, Stevens thought it more proper for Congress to shepherd the freedmen, providing them with the basic tools they needed in terms of education, legal protections, and security to establish themselves in their newfound freedom. Or will it be deterred by the clamor of ignorance, bigotry, and despotism from perfecting a revolution begun without their consent, but which ought not to be ended without their full participation and concurrence? Johnson's policies allowed many former Confederates to regain political power. The Federal arms triumphed. Now color disqualifies a man from testifying in courts, or being tried in the same way as white men. Eleven States, possessing a very large extent of territory, and ten or twelve million people, aimed to sever their connection with the Union, and to form an independent empire, founded on the avowed principle of human slavery and excluding every free State from this confederacy. 3 0 obj Congress must create States and declare when they are entitled to be represented. With the basis unchanged the 83 South But this is not all that we ought to do before and obey equal laws. Born in Danville, Vermont, in 1792, Stevens grew up poor, yet he graduated from Dartmouth College and became an attorney before entering politics in 1833. To be sure many subordinate items of the policy of each may be easily sketched. He focused much of his political attention on civil rights, eventually. The same law which condemns or acquits an African should condemn or acquit a white man. A colored man, driving the family of his employer, drove his wagon against a wagon containing Watson and his family. He supported banks, internal improvements and public schools, and spoke out against slavery; Jacksonian Democrats; and Freemasons, believing that they were contriving plans to unfairly gain government positions. This amendment supplies that defect, and allows Congress to correct the unjust legislation of the States, so far that the law which, operates upon one man shall operate equally upon all. In 1848, a third party called the Free Soil Party formed to highlight opposition to extending slavery into western territories that had not yet organized as states. They did not claim to raise an insurrection to reform the Government of the country -a rebellion against the laws-but they asserted their entire independence of that Government and of all obligations to its laws. If they do not enfranchise the freedmen, it will give to the rebel States but thirty-seven Representatives. They ought never to be recognized as capable of acting in the Union, or of being counted as valid States, until the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make it what its framers intended; and so as to secure perpetual ascendancy to the party of the Union; and so as to render our republican Government firm and stable forever. No Government official, from the President and Chief Justice down, can do anyone act which is not prescribed and directed by the legislative power. our republican Government firm and stable forever. If it be just, it should not be denied; if it be necessary, it should be adopted; if it be a punishment to traitors, they deserve it. . No sane man believed that they had any organic or municipal laws which the United States were bound to respect. occasion for the conquered rebels and the conqueror to ascendency to the party of the Union; and so as to render On May 8, 1866, Thaddeus Stevens delivered this speech introducing the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives. . Stevens had a difficult childhood; in addition to growing up fatherless, he was poor and had a club foot. Unless the Constitution should restrain them, those States will all, I fear, keep up this discrimination and crush to death the hated freedmen.
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