An ancient philosopher, whose antagonist admitted that what he required was just but deemed it impolitic, asked him: Do you believe in Hades? I would say to those above referred to, who admit the justice of human equality before the law but doubt its policy: Do you believe in heIl?. What are the great questions which now divide the nation? Thaddeus Stevens, Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, gave a speech before Congress that articulated his vision for the period following the Civil War, known as Reconstruction. Because the government that we have today is far more related to what transpired in the 1930s-40s than what happened from 1861-1865. The freedom of a Government does not depend upon the quality of its laws, but upon the power that has the right to enact them. No one then supposed that those States had any governments, except such as they had formed under their rebel organization. 27. Congress denies him all power in the matter, except those of advice, and has determined to maintain such denial. The two principal parties in antebellum America, until the Republicans replaced the Whigs. . But if the States are States in the Union, then when war ceases they resume their positions with all their privileges untouched. And you might want to read about the history of the US from 1865-1930 or so. Let us at least escape that condition. . . The Congressional elections of 1866 brought Radical Republicans to power. . 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. Figure 17.2. Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology is a premier, residential, two-year, accredited technical college that prepares students for skilled employment in a diverse, ever-changing workforce. . . What would he like to do? There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. Stevens was an opponent of slavery before the war and after the war sought to secure the rights of the newly freed population in the former Confederacy. Wendell Phillips, Speech Criticizing the Fourteenth Amendment, October 26, 1866. 1: Andrew Johnson | After Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson, the new president, attempted to "restore" the South using the plan begun by Lincoln. . 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 . I am not fond of sanguinary punishments, but surely some victims must propitiate the manes4 of our starved, murdered, slaughtered martyrs. I pronounce it no nearer to a true Republic now when twenty-five million of a privileged class exclude five million[1] from all participation in the rights of government. Griffith's film depicted Reconstruction as an utter failure in part because of the unyielding attitudes of radicals like Austin Stoneman (the character based upon Stevens). . . I do. The Fourteenth Amendment To remove doubt of Civil Rights Act, joint committee proposed Amendment 14 th Amendment (written largely by Thaddeus Stevens) went far beyond the Civil Rights Act Reaffirmed the state and federal citizenship of person born or naturalized in the US Forbade any state to "abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens" States could not deny any . SCENE 17: CELEBRATION (2:02) Part 43: (Stevens residence, evening) Thaddeus Stevens limps home on his club foot carrying the final bill and presents it to Lydia Smith, his black housekeeper. . That decision has unsheathed the dagger of the assassin and places the knife of the rebel at the throat of every man who dares proclaim himself to be now, or to have been heretofore, a loyal Union man. . FELLOW-CITIZENS: In compliance with your request, I have come to give my views of the present condition of the rebel States of the proper mode of reorganizing the government, and the future prospects of the republic. This issue became more pressing as the war ended. Possibly with their aid loyal governments may be established in most of those States. thaddeus stevens speech on the reconstruction acts summary. TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, Ohio 44805 PHONE (419) 289-5411 TOLL FREE (877) 289-5411 EMAIL [emailprotected], The Right to Criticize American Institutions, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 7th Debate Part II. Do you avow the party purpose? [President Johnson] 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. 20072023 Blackpast.org. The white Union men are in a great minority in each of those States. . Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives during Abraham Lincoln's presidency, fought to abolish slavery and helped draft the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction. If in the Union, the States have long ago regulated that, and for the Central Government to interfere with it would be mischievous impertinence. . Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., 2nd sess., Jan. 3, 1867, pp. As the landed interest must govern, the more it is subdivided and held by independent owners, the better. This I take to be the great question between the President and Congress. Copperhead (after the poisonous snake of the same name) was a derisive term used by Republicans during the Civil War to describe Democratic politicians who wanted to negotiate a peace settlement with the South. Civil War is also known as the "brothers" war between states. 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. (14) Thaddeus Stevens, speech in Congress (3rd January, 1867) Since the surrender of the armies of the confederate States of America a little has been done toward establishing this Government upon the true principles of liberty and justice; and but a little if we stop here. The wagon of Watson was broken. Impartial suffrage, both in electing the delegates and ratifying their proceedings, is now the fixed rule. . . 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. Then, twenty million white men enchained four million black men. Eleven States, possessing a very large extent of territory, and ten or twelve million people, aimed to sever their connection with the Union, and to form an independent empire, founded on the avowed principle of human slavery and excluding every free State from this confederacy. . Thaddeus Stevens was one of the main leaders of the Radical Republican faction in Congress during Reconstruction. But every other government is a despotism. The 1867 Military Reconstruction Act, which encompassed the vision of Radical Republicans, set a new direction for Reconstruction in the South. No one then supposed that those States had any governments, except such as they had formed under their rebel organization. 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. The convention of southern loyalists, lately held in Philadelphia, almost unanimously agreed to such a bill as an absolute necessity. Free for commercial use, no attribution required. Republicans saw this law, and three supplementary laws passed by Congress that year, called the Reconstruction Acts, as a way to deal with the disorder in the South. Arrival of the delegates to the Republican convent "The rehabilitation of the Democratic party. But, above all, let us inquire whether imperative duty to the present generation and to posterity, does not command us to compel the wicked enemy to pay the expenses of this unjust war. In the second place, it is a necessity in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. Melancthon and others were ripe scholars and sincere reformers, but none of them had his courage. Following the trial, Stevens became ill, and he never recovered. The employer offered to pay Watson every dollar that he might assess for the damage that had been done. There is more reason why colored voters should be admitted in the rebel States than in the Territories. A leading radical Republican of the Reconstruction era, he is perhaps best known for Tommy Lee Jones's portrayal in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln . We have even given them that highest and most agreeable evidence of liberty as defined by the great plebeian the right to work. But in what have we enlarged their liberty of thought? They are lovers as well, however, and the scene . . That decision has taken away every protection in everyone of these rebel States from every loyal man, black or white, who resides there. On April 11, 1835, Thaddeus Stevens gave a speech in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in defense of the Free Schools Act of 1834. Thaddeus Stevens was a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Call you this a free Republic where four millions are subjects but not citizens? President Lincoln encouraged reconciliation, and a respect for the constitutional limits of the authority of the President, the Congress and the states. For these, among other reasons, I am for Negro suffrage in every rebel State. No former laws, no former compacts or treaties existed to bind the belligerents. Dated: 1835. Thaddeus Stevens on the Great Topic of . The day before the Pennsylvania Senate had voted to repeal this act, but Stevens' speech moved the state House to vote against repeal and the Senate to take another vote in support of free public schools. The confederate States claimed no rights unless they could conquer them by the contest of arms. Whoever had then asserted that those States [were] entitled to all the rights and privileges which they enjoyed before the rebellion and were on a level with their loyal conquerors would have been deemed a fool. To be sure many subordinate items of the policy of each may be easily sketched. All Rights Reserved. ", A Union Officers Account of the 1864 Election, IS IT A CRIME FOR A U.S. CITIZEN TO VOTE?. 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. The purpose and avowed object of the enemy to found an empire whose corner-stone should be slavery,3 rendered its perpetuity or revival dangerous to human liberty. They formed an entirely new constitution; a new and distinct government, called the confederate States of America. They passed their own laws, without regard to any former national connection. Admitted to the Maryland bar, he moved to Pennsylvania to . But it will be said, as it has been said, This is Negro equality! What is Negro equality. On May 8, 1866, Thaddeus Stevens delivered this speech introducing the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives. I am now confining my arguments to negro suffrage in the rebel States. Congress must create States and declare when they are entitled to be represented. By what civil weapon have we enabled them to defend themselves against oppression and injustice? President Johnson was acquitted at his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate in May 1868. )5 Then the laws of war enabled us to declare every bondman free, so long as we held them in military possession. If their constitutions are not approved of, they would be sent back, until they have become wise enough so to purge their old laws as to eradicate every despotic and revolutionary principle until they shall have learned to venerate the Declaration of Independence. Possibly with their aid loyal governments may be established in most of those States. The law has nothing to do with it. When the farmer complained, the school refused to let the wrongly accused man graduate. Look again, and see loyal men reduced to poverty by the confiscations by the Confederate States, and by the rebel States see Union men robbed of their property, and their dwellings laid in ashes by rebel raiders, and say if too much is asked for them. Twenty years ago I denounced it as a despotism. Meanwhile, the freed men and women sought to construct new lives in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. is the only power that can act in the matter. . You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. Congress could prescribe the qualifications of voters while a Territory, or when proceeding to call a convention to form a State government. . Now, sir, if that decision be the law, then it becomes the more necessary that we should proceed to take care that such a construction as that shall not open the door to greater injuries than have already been sustained. . Ask, what is the policy of Congress? and the answer is not always at hand. They were satisfied that the United States should maintain its old Constitution and laws. The President could not even create bureaus or Departments to facilitate his executive operations. . What role of the national government does he envision in Reconstruction? Would to God, if only for that, that I were still in the prime of life, that I might aid you to fight through this last and greatest battle of freedom! Charlotte Fowler's Testimony to Sub-Committee on R Letter to William L. Dayton, Ambassador to France. . Now they are the victims of daily murder. Those will be the opposing parties. definition summary rights read corrections in america an introduction 14th edition reconstruction amendments 13th 14th and 15th . . If the doctrine enunciated in that decision be true, never were the people of any country anywhere, or at any time, in such terrible peril as are our loyal brethren at the South, whether they be black or white, whether they go there from the North or are natives of the rebel States. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. Seeing this victory as support, within limits, of their approach to reconstruction, a leading radical Republican, Representative Thaddeus Stevens (R-PA; 1792-1868), took the floor of the House of Representatives to outline his vision of Reconstruction and to support the Reconstruction Acts that Congress was considering. That is a matter of taste which every man must decide for himself. 2023 coronavirus newsletters web on may 8 1866 thaddeus stevens delivered this speech introducing the fourteenth amendment in the u s . What are the great questions which now divide the nation? . But in what have we enlarged their liberty of thought? The Visit of Red Cloud to Washington, D.C. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. As conquered territory, Congress would have full power to legislate for them; for the territories are not under the Constitution, except so far as the express power to govern them is given to Congress. . The committee was established on December 13, 1865, after both houses reached agreement on an amended version of a House concurrent resolution introduced by Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania to establish a joint committee of 15 members. To allow it would be yielding the whole question and admitting the unimpaired rights of the seceded States. Their subjects had liberty of motion and of labor, but the laws were made without and against their will; but I must declare that, in my judgment, they were as really free governments as ours is to-day. 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. 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. State must pass 13th amendment. 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?