Thaddeus Stevens Commoner

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Excerpt from Thaddeus Stevens Commoner It has been remarked that republics are ungrateful to their servants. The people forget the great services rendered by those who have put self out of sight in their desire to serve others. Especially true is this in an age like the present - so full of political curiosity and so wanting in political talent. With the desire of calling attention to the inestimable value to the nation of the life of that great public servant, Thaddeus Stevens, and the importance of his stalwart policy in securing the results of the war, the author has written. The unthinking endeavor to east a stigma on the word stalwart by associating it with the spoils system. But it means more than that. The word stands for that bold, courageous, and loyal policy which will be the lasting glory of the Republican party. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Graphic biography about Thaddeus Stevens

One of the most controversial figures in nineteenth-century American history, Thaddeus Stevens is best remembered for his role as congressional leader of the radical Republicans and as a chief architect of Reconstruction. Long painted by historians as a vindictive 'dictator of Congress,' out to punish the South at the behest of big business and his own ego, Stevens receives a more balanced treatment in Hans L. Trefousse's biography, which portrays him as an impassioned orator and a leader in the struggle against slavery. Trefousse traces Stevens's career through its major phases: from his days in the Pennsylvania state legislature, when he antagonized Freemasons, slaveholders, and Jacksonian Democrats, to his political involvement during Reconstruction, when he helped author the Fourteenth Amendment and spurred on the passage of the Reconstruction Acts and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Throughout, Trefousse explores the motivations for Stevens's lifelong commitment to racial equality, thus furnishing a fuller portrait of the man whose fervent opposition to slavery helped move his more moderate congressional colleagues toward the implementation of egalitarian policies.