"Federalist"@en . . . . . . . . "It is my purpose nowhere in these remarks to make personal reproaches; I entertain no ill-will toward any human being, nor any brute, that I know of, not even the [Democratic] skunk across the way to which I referred. Least of all would I reproach the South. I honor her courage and fidelity. Even in a bad, a wicked cause, she shows a united front. All her sons are faithful to the cause of human bondage, because it is their cause. But the North\u2014the poor, timid, mercenary, driveling North\u2014has no such united defenders of her cause, although it is the cause of human liberty ... She is offered up a sacrifice to propitiate southern tyranny\u2014to conciliate southern treason."@en . "--06-10"^^ . "Dartmouth College, University of Vermont"@en . "1868-08-11"^^ . . . . . . . . "Thaddeus Stevens"@en . . . "Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district"@en . . . . . . . "1849"^^ . "Natural Causes"@en . . "8"^^ . "9"^^ . . . . . . . . "Lydia Hamilton Smith"@en . . "--09-01"^^ . . . . . "John Strohm"@en . . "1849-03-04"^^ . . "--08-13"^^ . "right"@en . . . "Justin Smith Morrill"@en . "Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792 \u2013 August 11, 1868), of Pennsylvania, was a Republican Party leader and one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives. Stevens dominated the House from 1861 until his death and wrote much of the financial legislation that paid for the American Civil War. Shortly before his death, he voted for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Historians have criticized Stevens' obsessive, monomaniacal hatred of the Confederate States, but praised his sincere desire for the equality of black people in American society."@en . . . . ""@en . . . . . . . . "I repose in this quiet and secluded spot\nNot from any natural preference for solitude\nBut, finding other Cemeteries limited as to Race\n:by Charter Rules\nI have chosen this that I might illustrate\n:in my death\nThe Principles which I advocated\n:through a long life;\nEQUALITY OF MAN BEFORE HIS CREATOR"@en . . "T Stevens Signature.svg"@en . . "Politician"@en . "in the United States Capitol rotunda"@en . "Lawyer"@en . "1868-08-11"^^ . . . "Anthony E. Roberts"@en . . . "1861"^^ . . ""@en . . "1859"^^ . "1792-04-04"^^ . . "Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792 \u2013 August 11, 1868), of Pennsylvania, was a Republican Party leader and one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives. Stevens dominated the House from 1861 until his death and wrote much of the financial legislation that paid for the American Civil War. Shortly before his death, he voted for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Historians have criticized Stevens' obsessive, monomaniacal hatred of the Confederate States, but praised his sincere desire for the equality of black people in American society."@en . "Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee"@en . . . . . "Danville, Vermont, U.S."@en . . "* Federalist\n*"@en . . . . "Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792 \u2013 August 11, 1868) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the American Civil War, he played a major part in the war's financing."@en . "Know Nothing"@en . "Henry A. Muhlenberg"@en . . . "27"^^ . . "24"^^ . "Persons who have lain in state or honor"@en . . "23"^^ . "Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792 \u2013 August 11, 1868) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the American Civil War, he played a major part in the war's financing. Stevens was born in rural Vermont, in poverty, and with a club foot, giving him a limp he kept his entire life. He moved to Pennsylvania as a young man, and quickly became a successful lawyer in Gettysburg. He interested himself in municipal affairs, and then in politics. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he became a strong advocate of free public education. Financial setbacks in 1842 caused him to move his home and practice to the larger city of Lancaster. There, he joined the Whig Party, and was elected to Congress in 1848. His activities as a lawyer and politician in opposition to slavery cost him votes and he did not seek reelection in 1852. After a brief flirtation with the Know-Nothing Party, Stevens joined the newly formed Republican Party, and was elected to Congress again in 1858. There, with fellow radicals such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, he opposed the expansion of slavery and concessions to the South as war came. Stevens argued that slavery should not survive the war; he was frustrated by the slowness of President Abraham Lincoln to support his position. He guided the government's financial legislation through the House as Ways and Means chairman. As the war progressed towards a northern victory, Stevens came to believe that not only should slavery be abolished, but that African-Americans should be given a stake in the South's future through the confiscation of land from planters to be distributed to the freedmen. His plans went too far for the Moderate Republicans, and were not enacted. After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Stevens came into conflict with the new president, Johnson, who sought rapid restoration of the seceded states without guarantees for freedmen. The difference in views caused an ongoing battle between Johnson and Congress, with Stevens leading the Radical Republicans. After gains in the 1866 election the radicals took control of Reconstruction away from Johnson. Stevens's last great battle was to secure articles of impeachment in the House against Johnson, though the Senate did not convict the President. Historiographical views of Stevens have dramatically shifted over the years, from the early 20th-century view of Stevens as reckless and motivated by hatred of the white South, to the perspective of the neoabolitionists of the 1950s and afterwards, who applauded him for his egalitarian views."@en . . "1853-03-03"^^ . . "Oliver J. Dickey"@en . . "John Sherman"@en . . . . . . "The inscription on Stevens's grave"@en . "1859-03-04"^^ . . "right"@en . "Washington, D.C., U.S."@en . . "Anti-Masonic"@en . . "Whig"@en . . . . "Abolition\u2014Yes! abolish everything on the face of the earth but this Union; free every slave\u2014slay every traitor\u2014burn every rebel mansion, if these things be necessary to preserve this temple of freedom to the world and to our posterity."@en . "1868"^^ . . "Pennsylvania"@en . . . . "1792"^^ . . "Shreiner-Concord Cemetery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania"@en . . . "Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district"@en . "Thaddeus Stevens"@en . . "* Thad\n* \"The Old Commoner\"\n* \"The Great Commoner\""@en .