I know they had fewer rulers and more subjects, but those rulers were no more despotic than ours, and their subjects had just as large privileges in governing the country as ours have. Alert to the return to power of traditional white Southern leadership, he argued that the seceded states were in the condition of conquered provinces to which restraints of the Constitution did not apply. we had better have left them in bondage. stream As everyone within the government knew, Stevens was not amenable to allowing the Confederates to regain their role within the Union. While slavery sat upon her defiant throne, and insulted and intimidated the trembling North, the South frequently divided on questions of policy between Whigs and Democrats, and gave victory alternately to the sections. Speech on Reconstruction | Teaching American History All Rights Reserved. Viewing Pres. Stevens had a long history of opposition to slavery and was outraged over the secession of the South. Thaddeus Stevens, "Reconstruction" Speech, September 6, 1865. Since, then, the President cannot enact, alter, or modify a single law; cannot even create a petty office within his own sphere of duties; if, in short, he is the mere servant of the people, who issue their commands to him through Congress, whence does he derive the constitutional power to create new States; to remodel old ones; to dictate organic laws; to fix the qualification of voters; to declare that States are republican and entitled to command Congress to admit their Representatives? Thaddeus Stevens on black suffrage, 1867 From speech of Thaddeus Stevens (R-Pa) in the House of Representatives, January 3, 1867. The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror. The United States, according to the usage of nations, appointed military provisional governors to regulate their municipal institutions until the law-making power of the conqueror should fix their condition and the law by which they should be permanently governed. requisite qualifications of age, residence, and citizenship; . . The white Union men are in a great minority in each of those States. It is obvious from all this that the first duty of Congress is to pass a law declaring the condition of these outside or defunct States, and providing proper civil governments for them. Sarah Stevens took care of the farm and raised four Stevens brothers. I can hardly believe that any person can be found who will not admit that every one of these provisions is just. <> In monarchical Governments, where the sovereign power rests in the Crown, the king would have fixed the condition of the conquered provinces. The law has nothing to do with it. He dominated the House during Reconstruction and proposed the impeachment of President .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Andrew Johnson. The next day Watson went to the employer of the colored man and complained. In that time, too, the loyal Congress could mature their laws and so amend the Constitution as to secure the rights of every human being and render disunion impossible. (1867) Thaddeus Stevens, "Reconstruction" - BlackPast.org representation among the States from Federal numbers to Stevens became a natural leader in Congress and served as a member of the House until his death in 1868. Omissions? Remarkable Radical: Thaddeus Stevens | The National Endowment for the The confederate armies and government surrendered unconditionally. That decision, although in terms perhaps not as infamous as the Dred Scott decision, is yet far more dangerous in its operation upon the lives and liberties of the loyal men of this country. % 4 0 obj Of course the rebels claimed no such rights; for whether their States were out of the Union as they declared, or were disorganized and out of their proper relations to the Government, as some subtle metaphysicians contend, their rights under the Constitution had all been renounced and abjured under oath, and could not be resumed on their own mere motion. proper for them as territorial governments. . 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. outside or defunct States, and providing proper civil Dead men cannot raise themselves. Steven called for action and change but deadlock in congress blocked his agenda. ?]J2Tw7@F VQ"EQ[?-p_' (E*@zEg* UWQ?-]B[zel}%&H&HR[l`l6$zU~_}s:P)}zVYg7/kxQUDkzd|gno@>nN;q{DG 5%Z. During the dictatorship of Pericles his laws were just, but Greece was not free. Military rule is necessarily despotic, The Southern territories could have non-voting representation, and it would be Congress, which would ensure that they could not exercise any power until Congress was convinced they would pose no further threat to the Union. . To my mind it is either the most ignorant and shallow mistake of his duties, or the most brazen and impudent usurpation of power. As a member of the joint Committee on Reconstruction, he played an important part in the preparation of the Fourteenth (due process) Amendment to the Constitution and the military reconstruction acts of 1867. Stevens was also a staunch opponent of President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies.]. As an important member of the new Republicans, Stevens became actively involved in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves escape to Canada. Address of a convention of Negroes held in Alexandria Virginia August He must ask leave of Congress. There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill [Military Reconstruction Act]. 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. There is more reason why colored voters should be admitted in the rebel States than in the Territories. governments for them. Thaddeus Stevens Papers: Speeches and Writing File, 1835-1868; 1865 . He might have extended the laws of his empire over them, allowed them to retain portions of their old institutions, or, by conditions of peace, have fixed upon them new and exceptional laws. Thaddeus Stevens, "Reconstruction" Speech, September 6, 1865. This becomes more and more necessary every day; and the late decision of the Supreme Court of the United States has rendered immediate action by Congress upon the question of the establishment of governments in the rebel States absolutely indispensable. Image Details The Joint Committee on Reconstruction proposed a constitutional amendment to address issues in Southern states. Thaddeus Stevens, Speech in favor of black suffrage, 1867 A majority of Congress desires that treason shall be made odious, not by bloody executions, but by other adequate punishments. 251-252. . No State could order the election of members until Congress had ordered a census and made an apportionment. >IQ How do you answer the principle inscribed in Our political scripture, That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed? 13 Without such consent government is a tyranny, and you exercising it are tyrants. Explore our new 15-unit high school curriculum. Heaven forbid that the southern states, or any one of them, should be represented by this floor until such monuments of freedom are built high and firm. In opposition to these things, a portion of Congress seems to desire that the conquered belligerent shall, according to the law of nations, pay at least a part of the expenses and damages of the war; and that especially the loyal people who were plundered and impoverished by rebel raiders shall be fully indemnified. Congress and in the Electoral college. In this speech, Stevens called on his colleagues to support the proposed Fourteenth Amendmentarguing that it would help to bring about legal equality for African Americans. . Importantly, the speech placed Congress itself in charge of Reconstruction policya fact that galled President Andrew Johnson, who promoted a relatively simple reinstatement process for Southern states. Military rule is necessarily despotic, and ought not to exist longer than is absolutely necessary. Ensuring the rights of former slaves, now called freedmen, was, to Johnson, a matter for state governmentsanother important issue on which he and Stevens's Radical Republicans disagreed. I do. power, we shall deserve and receive the execration of Thaddeus Stevens was a Radical Republican leader and one of the most powerful members in the U.S. House of Representatives. Are such men fit to sit in the places of statesmen? Our fathers had been compelled to postpone the principles of their great Declaration, and wait for the full establishment till a more propitious time. Combining patriotic and religious imagery, it depicted Americans rebuilding a pavilion representing the United States. 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 . Whatever means of redress is afforded to one shall be afforded to all. Many Southern states quickly passed what became known as the Black Codesrepressive laws that governed where and when freedmen could go, the conditions under which they would work, and the limits on their gathering together. Think not I would slander my native land; I would reform it. He focused much of his political attention on civil rights, eventually helping to draft the 14th Amendment. and ought not to exist longer than is absolutely necessary. In States that have never been restored since the rebellion from a state of conquest, and which are this day held in captivity under the laws of war, the military authorities, under this decision and its extension into disloyal States, dare not order the commanders of departments to enforce the laws of the country. I advocated through a long life, equality of man before his creator. Popular interest in punishing or governing the South, as well as in ensuring justice for freedmen, waned, however, as Northerners prioritized a return to prosperity. Since the conquest they have been We have imposed upon them the privilege of fighting our battles, of dying in defense of freedom, and of bearing their equal portion of taxes; but where have we given them the privilege of ever participating in the formation of the laws for the government of their native land? actual voters. . government for some years, I know of no arrangement so I need not 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. War out west has begun and it seems as the US may be drawn into conflict with its southern neighbors. In this country the whole sovereignty rests with the people, and is exercised through their Representatives in Congress assembled. Stevens completed his undergraduate education and moved to York, Pennsylvania, where he taught classes at a one-room school during the daytime and studied law in the evenings. Unless the rebel States, before admission, should be made republican in spirit, and placed under the guardianship of loyal men, all. The short time allowed by our resolution will suffice to introduce this debate. 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. No sane man believed that they had any organic or municipal laws which the United States were bound to respect. It cannot be denied that this terrible struggle sprang from the vicious principles incorporated into the institutions of our country. 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. Andrew Johnson as soft toward the South, he introduced the resolution for his impeachment (1868) and served as chairman of the committee appointed to draft impeachment articles. No Government official, from the President and Chief Justice down, can do anyone act which is not prescribed and directed by the legislative power. endobj Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? The President claims the right to exercise them. They ought never to be recognized as capable of 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. But every other government is a despotism. . 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. Having witnessed the oppressive slave system at close range, he early developed a fierce hatred of bondage and defended numbers of fugitives without fee. Rather than debate the presidential plan, Stevens took a different tack, questioning the very propriety of having the executive branch direct Reconstruction policy. Thaddeus Stevens was a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who became the face of the opposition to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson's lenient approach to the South after the Civil War. . Now different degrees of punishment are inflicted, not on account of the magnitude of the crime, but according to the color of their skin. The second section I consider the most important in the article. Nearly six years ago a bloody war arose between different sections of the United States. He alone was willing to go where duty called though devils were as thick as the tiles on the houses. And Luther is the great luminary of the Reformation, around whom the others revolve as satellites and shine by his light. As there are no symptoms that the people of these provinces will be prepared to participate in constitutional government for some years, I know of no arrangement so proper for them as territorial governments. The Economy also feel with the panic of 1854. Start your constitutional learning journey. Analytical Services; Analytical Method Development and Validation law. The President could not even create bureaus or Departments to facilitate his executive operations. Do not tell me that there are loyal representatives waiting for admissionuntil their States are loyal they can have no standing here. first of those amendments is to change the basis of describe a time when you were treated unfairly. The 14th Amendmentprohibiting local and state governments from depriving citizens of "life, liberty or property," among other important protections for citizenslater served as a basis for civil rights legislation. 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. 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. It were better to shelter the household and trust to the advancing progress of a higher morality and a purer and more intelligent principle to underpin the defective corner. The people have once more nobly done their duty. Born to Joshua and Sarah (Morrill) Stevens, he was the second of four sons. Stevens died in Washington, D.C. on August 11, 1868. My policy asserts full power in the Executive. All Rights Reserved. Congress seemed fully in control. True it will take two, three, possibly five years before they conquer their prejudices sufficiently to allow their late slaves to become their equals at the polls. He focused much of his political attention on civil rights, eventually. 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. After the Confederacy was defeated, the southern states were devastated The Federal arms triumphed. inveterate rebels are invited to participate in our legislation. As the nation edged toward Civil War, Stevens, now living in Pennsylvania, was elected to Congress in 1849 as an antislavery Republican. The committee influenced the drafting and passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which upheld the citizenship rights . occasion for the conquered rebels and the conqueror to +(91)-9821210096 | how to say nevermind professionally in an email. This I take to be the great question between the President and Congress. But the public mind has been educated in error for a century. our blood and treasure will have been spent in vain. Thaddeus Stevens, Speech on reconstruction, 1865 Corrections? A small donation would help us keep this available to all. In the immediate aftermath of the war, however, Congress was not in session, and Johnson did his best to implement Lincoln's plan in Congress's absence. Thaddeus Stevens - Namuwiki I. Death State: Washington, D.C. Death Country: United States, Article Title: Thaddeus Stevens Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/political-figures/thaddeus-stevens, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 25, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. He composed his own epitaph, which reads, "I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not for any natural preference for solitude. Now, you must divide them between loyalists, without regard to color, and disloyalists, or you will be the perpetual vassals of the free trade, irritated, revengeful South. In the second place, it is a necessity in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. For these, among other reasons, I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. 1 0 obj Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. ?)(qUC We have broken the material shackles of four million slaves. 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. Without it all are sure to be ruled by traitors; and loyal men, black and white, will be oppressed, exiled, or murdered. He desires that the States created by him shall be acknowledged as valid States, while at the same time he inconsistently declares that the old rebel States are in full existence, and always have been, and have equal rights with the loyal States. The two powers mutually prepared to settle the question by arms. Such a course would soon surrender the Government into the hands of rebels. That decision has taken away every protection in everyone of these rebel States from every loyal man, black or white, who resides there. They had all been melted and consumed in the fierce fires of the terrible war. Of course, this does not admit malefactors to power, or there would soon be no penal laws and society would become an anarchy. Their work largely set the course for Reconstruction in the South. To allow it would be yielding the whole question and admitting the unimpaired rights of the seceded States. Let us at least escape that condition. ascendency to the party of the Union; and so as to render He served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and chaired the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Speaker, that charge, as I have stated, is. ern members, with the Democrats that will in the best times RECONSTRUCTION. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. They were satisfied that the United States should maintain its old Constitution and laws. "Reconstruction," Hon. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. In failing health, Stevens had requested to be buried in Shreiner-Concord Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, because the state accepted all races. practice justice to all men, and accustom themselves to make (The Free Soil Party had dissipated by the mid-1850s, and was largely absorbed by the new Republican Party, of which Stevens was a member.) electors; and I know of no better place nor better The former course would show valor and folly; the latter moral and physical courage, as well as prudence and wisdom. I hope I have a heart as capable of feeling for human woe as others. He publicly condemned the Confederacy and even initiated the exclusion of traditional Southern senators and representatives from a congressional meeting in 1865. I need not enumerate these partial and oppressive laws. The conclusion of the Civil War may have halted the direct warfare between the Union and Confederate armies, but disagreements among Northerners over what to do with the South were just beginning. 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 To those white leaders, voting rights for the freedmen, as advocated by Radical Republicans, were out of the question. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. The parties acknowledged each other as such, and claimed to be governed by the law of nations and the laws of war in their treatment of each other. No civil authority would prosecute him; and, when taken into custody by the military authority, he is discharged by order of the President under this most injurious and iniquitous decision. 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. the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make it To reconstruct the nation, to admit new States, to guaranty republican governments to old States are all legislative acts. States and declare when they are entitled to be represented. 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. Their government became perfectly organized, both in its civil and military departments. It has always been observed that the larger the number of the rulers the more cruel the treatment of the subject races. Thaddeus Stevens,of Pennsylvania, on the abolition of slavery. They have determined that while in their keeping the Constitution shall not be violated with impunity. Thaddeus Stevens, Speech on reconstruction, December 18, 1865. 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. 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. Dead States cannot restore their existence "as it was." . . The veto power is no exception; it is merely a power to compel a reconsideration. Whether they should ever have all men of both sections, without exception, agreed would depend on the will of Congress, if the United States were victorious. . Now color disqualifies a man from testifying in courts, or being tried in the same way as white men. The veto of the President and their votes on the bill are conclusive evidence of that. Ask, what is the policy of Congress? and the answer is not always at hand. We have allowed them the unwonted privilege of attending church, if they can do so without offending the sight of their former masters. Any exception to this rule has been a work of grace in Congress by passing healing acts. But if full justice could not be obtained at once I would not refuse to do what is possible. Lincoln had already authorized reconstructed governments in Arkansas, Louisiana, Virginia, and Johnson's home state of Tennessee, and Johnson continued Lincoln's goal of quickly restoring local sovereignty to the states. Then each House must judge whether the members 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. Congress must create States and declare when they are entitled to be represented. . <> I desire that as early as possible, without curtailing debate, this House shall come to some conclusion as to what shall be done with the rebel States. governed by martial law.