Thaddeus Stevens
Born April 4, 1792
Danville, Vermont
Died August 11, 1868
Washington, D.C.
Union political leader, head of the Radical
Republicans in the U.S. Congress
Led the fight to abolish slavery and secure equal
rights for black Americans during the Civil War
and Reconstruction
Thaddeus Stevens was a highly influential—and also controversial—politician during and immediately after the Civil War. People in the North who opposed slavery hailed him as one of the bravest leaders in American history. No one did more to promote the principles of freedom and equality laid out in the U.S. Constitution. "Every man, no matter what his race or color, has an equal right to justice, honesty, and fair play with every other man; and the law should secure him those rights," Stevens once said. "Such is the law of God and such ought to be the law of man."
But white people in the South hated Stevens. They believed that his radical proposals to free their slaves, take away their land, and put black people in charge of their government would destroy Southern society. Some people in the North also felt that Stevens went too far. They worried that his harsh policies toward the South would prevent the two halves of the country from reconciling their differences after the Civil War.
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