THADDEUS STEVENS

The notorious “Radical Republican” gets his day in the sun.

Though Congressman Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was considered a villain for decades after his death, many historians now agree that he fought for the highest ideals of democracy. An ambitious Pennsylvania lawyer, he became an abolitionist in the 1830s, writes Levine in this useful biographical portrait. Most contemporaries and historians, at least until the 1960s, considered abolitionists fanatics and devoted much energy to analyzing their motives (a sense of justice was apparently off-limits). Although the author admits that Stevens excelled in sarcasm and invective, regularly enraging Southern representatives, who considered abuse their monopoly, the demagogue portrayed by previous historians is nowhere in evidence here. Stevens chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee when war broke out in 1861. A pivotal figure, he urged Lincoln to free the slaves long before the president came around. By 1865, Northern leaders, exasperated by the war, had lost their objection to emancipation, but almost everyone (historians included) considered that an end in itself. Only Radical Republicans urged that the freed slaves receive legal protection, the vote, and opportunity to make a living. Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, aided Radicals by his sheer dreadfulness. He proclaimed publicly that Blacks were inferior and unfit for citizenship and vetoed legislation to aid them. Pardoning prominent Confederates, he welcomed all-White state representatives back into Congress. These actions, along with widespread oppression, violence, and murder, offended Northern opinion enough to persuade moderates to vote with Radicals who were always a minority. With Stevens’ support, Congress rejected all-White delegations, overturned Johnson’s vetoes, sent troops to protect freed slaves, and passed the 14th Amendment, which aimed to ensure legal protection but defeated other commendable efforts such as enforcing voting rights and distributing land to freed slaves. Because Stevens died at the peak of Reconstruction, he did not witness its failure.

A convincing rehabilitation of a statesman who fought for equality before it became fashionable.