This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can take care of themselves. How absurd that a mere executive officer should claim creative powers! If impartial suffrage is excluded in the rebel States then everyone of them is sure to send a solid rebel representative delegation to Congress, and cast a solid rebel electoral vote. Thaddeus Stevens Papers: Speeches and Writing File, 1835-1868; 1865 Under such governments, while electing members endobj acting in the Union, or of being counted as valid States, until 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. This I take to be the great question between the President and Congress. The two powers mutually prepared to settle the question by arms. In the second place, it is a necessity in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. The first section, prohibits the States from abridging the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, or unlawfully depriving them of life, liberty, or property, or of denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. He focused much of his political attention on civil rights, eventually. . occasion for the conquered rebels and the conqueror to The first two years of Congressional Reconstruction saw Southern states rewrite their Constitutions and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress must create Simply allowing the Southern states to rejoin the Union upon the acceptance of federal sovereignty by ten percent of voters and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was not even close to sufficient for Stevens, who, like many in the North, held the Southerners completely responsible for four years of unprecedented bloodshed. Congress alone can do it. I waive now the question of punishment which, if we are wise, will still be inflicted by moderate confiscations, both as a reproof and example. He spent a term studying at the University of Vermont but ultimately graduated from Dartmouth. exclaims some horror-stricken demagogue. 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. The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror. . . An anti-Masonic member of the state legislature (183341), he proved himself a friend of banks, internal improvements, and public schools and a foe of Freemasons, Jacksonian Democrats, and slaveholders. I. Stevens had a long history of opposition to slavery and was outraged over the secession of the South. % For these, among other reasons, I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. 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. It would not be wise to prevent the raising of the structure because some corner of it might be founded upon materials subject to the inevitable laws of mortal decay. Is their judgment misled by their kindness; or are they unconsciously drifting into the haven of power at the other end of the avenue? How, then, can such a State adopt the amendment? 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. Now they are the victims of daily murder. Born to Joshua and Sarah (Morrill) Stevens, he was the second of four sons. Admitted to the Maryland bar, he moved to Pennsylvania to practice law in 1816. He also offered his home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Whatever law allows the white man to testify in court shall allow the man of color to do the same. <> 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 <> The short time allowed by our resolution will suffice to introduce this debate. 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. government for some years, I know of no arrangement so On May 8, 1866, Thaddeus Stevens delivered this speech introducing the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives. Think not I would slander my native land; I would reform it. have turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. We know Thaddeus Stevens as an ardent abolitionist who championed the rights of blacks for decadesup to, during, and after the Civil War. The employer offered to pay Watson every dollar that he might assess for the damage that had been done. When Congress met in December 1865, Stevens took the lead in excluding the traditional senators and representatives from the South. 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. They would merely misrepresent their constituents. Thaddeus Stevens was one of the most influential people in shaping public policy during the Reconstruction era, but not all of his ideas were implemented. . Congress and in the Electoral college. There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill [Military Reconstruction Act]. endobj 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. H.R. 127, Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution He defended the system of segregation developed in the South after Reconstruction (including lynching); segregation was not challenged until the 1950s and 1960s. Of course, this does not admit malefactors to power, or there would soon be no penal laws and society would become an anarchy. There they can 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. This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can Having these States, as we all agree, entirely within the power of Congress, it is our duty to take care that no injustice shall remain in their organic laws. 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. 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. My policy asserts full power in the Executive. ?]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. 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. 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? We have allowed them the unwonted privilege of attending church, if they can do so without offending the sight of their former masters. He opposes the amendment to the Constitution, which changes the base of representation, and desires the old slave States to have the benefit of their increase of freemen without increasing the number of votes; in short, he desires to make the vote of one rebel in South Carolina equal to the vote of three freemen in Pennsylvania or New York. Are such men fit to sit in the places of statesmen? The policy of Congress forbids him to exercise any power therein. 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. proper for them as territorial governments. They must suffer constant persecution or be exiled. He focused much of his political attention on civil rights, eventually helping to draft the 14th Amendment. This doctrine does not mean that a negro shall sit on the same seat or eat at the same table with a white man. endobj The wagon of Watson was broken. They each raised more than half a million armed men. The film claims that it was "Based in Part on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln . Possibly the people would not have inaugurated this revolution to correct the palpable incongruities and despotic provisions of the Constitution; but having it forced upon them, will they be so unwise as to suffer it to subside without erecting this nation into a perfect Republic? Mr. Speaker, that charge, as I have stated, is. In the States they form the great mass of the loyal men. It cannot be denied that this terrible struggle sprang from the vicious principles incorporated into the institutions of our country. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! Stevens attended Peacham Academy, where he excelled in his academics, and then enrolled at Dartmouth College. But I beg gentlemen to consider the magnitude of the task which was imposed upon the committee.
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