Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Great Commoner, Spring 2024, No. 48, www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com

 Two big Thaddeus Stevens events in April

        There are two important Thaddeus Stevens events on April 4 and 5. The grand opening of the new Stevens museum will be held at 46 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 4. Then the next day, Friday, April 5, the annual graveside ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m. at the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery at Mulberry and Chestnut Streets in Lancaster. 

The grand opening of the first Stevens museum is on the 232nd birthday of Stevens and the 25th anniversary of the Thaddeus Stevens Society. The schedule for the grand opening is elsewhere in the newsletter.

The graveside ceremony, sponsored by the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and the Stevens Society, honors Stevens with speeches and presentations in front of the Great Commoner’s inspirational grave. The event is followed by a free dinner at 6 p.m. at the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in its Jones Conference Room. If you plan to attend, please email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or call 717-347-8159.


Gettysburg museum opens

Thad's Place, home of the Thaddeus Stevens Museum, has opened at 46 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg, PA. The grand opening will be Thursday, April 4.

The museum, had its "soft" opening on March 1 and the public reception has been gratifying. History buffs roaming Gettysburg are thrilled to find a Stevens museum. The hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Outside those hours, appointments can be made by calling 717-347-8159..

The museum has an extensive collection of letters, newspapers and two stoves made at iron works owned by Stevens. There is also study carrels where researchers can use the Society's collection of books and documents about Stevens. Visitors can also catch videos about Stevens in the lounge area where there is free coffee and a vending machine providing snacks. Below are photo of the museum, which is still in the process of being set up.


                                        Stoves made at iron works owned by Stevens


Letters and documents in a display case

Study carrels next to Stevens books and documents.


Lounge and video area

Grand opening schedule

5 to 6 p.m. – Attendees will be able to tour the new museum and Civil War era music will be played by noted musician Tom Jolin. The first 100 people will receive a bag of souvenirs, including DVDs about Thaddeus Stevens, a button and a bookmark commemorating the grand opening, and flyers about Stevens. Light refreshments will be served


6 to 7 p.m. – Gettysburg Independent Blues, a Civil War color guard, will present arms to begin the ceremonies in front of Christ Lutheran Evangelical Church next to the museum. This will be followed by Jesse Holt, a local vocalist, singing the Star-Spangled Banner. This will be followed by remarks by local officials and others.


Fundraising Banquet

    From 7 to 9 p.m. there will be a fundraising banquet at the social hall of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church next to the museum. The lasagna dinner will include a ticket to a wine reception at the Adams County Winery shop across the street at 25 Chambersburg Street before the grand opening. Tickets are $50 a person and can be obtained by emailing info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or calling 717-347-8159.


History of almost Thaddeus Stevens museums

    While there are several books about Thaddeus Stevens and a few movies that include his character, his relatives and admirers did little to preserve the places he lived or to find a location for artifacts related to him. His house in Gettysburg was torn down in the 1920s and his home is Lancaster was altered to the point of being unrecognizable. 

The first attempt to have some sort of museum was at Caledonia State Park near Chambersburg, PA, the site of Stevens iron furnace, which he owned from 1837 to his death in 1868. By the early 20th century, only a few buildings survived, including the blacksmith shop. That shop was converted into a trolley station for the electric railroad that ran from Chambersburg. In 1935 it was converted back to a blacksmith with the addition of a belfry, that had not been there before.

The restored structure was outfitted with a hearth and blacksmith equipment and some products made at the furnace, such as a stove, were put on display. There was even a gift shop selling park souvenirs. But its focus was the history of the iron works and not Stevens’s legislative career, though more information about that has been added in recent decades. Also, the unheated brick building was not suitable for storing artifacts. 

One particular drawback to the shop was the sign on the front of the building which read: “Thaddeus Stevens Blacksmith Shop.” This has caused people to think Stevens was a blacksmith and not a powerful legislator. The shop is now open on weekends during the summer with blacksmith demonstrations and presentations by a Thaddeus Stevens portrayer. 

                                                                 A postcard showing the blacksmith shop in the 1940s


Another effort at a Stevens museum was at the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, PA, a technical school established on a bequest from Stevens. In the 1990s, the school set up an archives room in its library This room had a variety of Stevens’s artifacts including his clubfoot boot, his suitcase, a bed frame and a writing desk. 

While this was a wonderful tribute to Stevens, it was located in an upper floor of the library and was not readily available to the public. The room was normally open only on special occasions or by asking the librarian to unlock the room. But even this limited accessibility was ended in 2023 when a leak developed in the room’s ceiling and the college transferred most of the artifacts over to LancasterHistory, the non-profit which plans to open a $25 million museum in early 2025 that will include Stevens.


                                        The display case at the archives room at Stevens College


The trail towards a museum at the site of Stevens's Lancaster house started in the early 2000s when the Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, a non-profit concerned with preserving historic buildings, was successful in saving what was left of the Stevens house in downtown Lancaster and was able to restore the outside to its 1860s appearance. But the trust encountered financial problems in the effort and had to turn the project over to LancasterHistory in 2010, which then postponed any fundraising for more than a dozen years because it was still paying for its new museum.

LancasterHistory, which also operates President James Buchanan’s home Wheatland, now has the largest collections of Stevens artifacts anywhere, including a desk, rocking chair, boots, a variety of documents and even his wig. But these items are only brought out for specific exhibits and there is no permanent Stevens exhibit at its museum, much to the disappointment of tourists looking for for Stevens artifacts. This should change next year when LancasterHistory plans to open the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy in April 2025. Besides Stevens, the museum will include information about his housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith and the Underground Railroad.

The Thaddeus Stevens Society also tried its hand at Stevens exhibits over the years. Shortly after it was formed in 1999, the Society set up the Thaddeus Stevens room at Ross's Coffeehouse & Eatery in Gettysburg, owned by Ross Hetrick, the founder of the Society. That collection was rather small since the Society had just started collecting artifacts. That room shutdown when the coffeehouse was sold in 2004. But the Society continued to acquire Stevens items and now they will be displayed at the new museum.


Friday, March 15, 2024

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 39

 Finally, a Thaddeus Stevens museum

March 2024

By Ross Hetrick

On April 4, something will happen that should have happened a long time ago -- the grand opening of the first Thaddeus Stevens museum at 46 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg, PA.

The event from 5 to 7 p.m. will include music by noted musician Tom Jolin and the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner by Jesse Holt. There will be tours of the new museum and free handouts of DVDs and other Stevens souvenirs. 

More than 40 years ago I read a biography of Thaddeus Stevens and was bowled over. While other politicians vacillated and appeased slaveholders, Stevens was irrevocably against human bondage. Not only that, he was incredibly effective and was instrumental in preventing President Andrew Johnson from reversing the gains of the Civil War. Despite not being president, he was one of the most important people in American history.

I had to go to Lancaster, PA, one of the places that Stevens spent much of his adult life. I expected to tour his house full of artifacts of his life and see his incredibly inspirational grave that celebrates his devotion to equality. What I found horrified me. 

Stevens's house had been changed beyond recognition and there were no house tours, just a tarnished plaque saying he had lived there. His grave was little better. The small cemetery where he is buried -- the only integrated cemetery in Lancaster at the time of his death -- was overgrown with tree branches and broken tombstones strewn about. In Gettysburg, where he lived for 26 years and had a major impact in the borough and the state, it was worse. His house had been torn down in the 1920s and he was completely forgotten, overshadowed by the battle, Lincoln and Eisenhower.

The Thaddeus Stevens Society was founded 25 year ago to rectify this terrible situation and give Stevens the honor he deserves. There have been a number of gains in the intervening years. Two statues have been put up to the Great Commoner, one in Lancaster and another in Gettysburg. His cemetery is better maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers.

Now, at long last, people who come to know about Stevens and admire him can go to the new museum in Gettysburg on Chambersburg Street to get a fuller sense of this man's greatness. They can see letters written by him to important figures of the day. They can see cast iron stoves made at iron mills he owned. There are dozens of Civil War era newspapers detailing his exploits, including one from France. There is a space for researchers to use the Society's extensive library about Stevens and people can watch videos about Stevens while sipping coffee. 

The location of the free museum is very appropriate since it is located across the street from where Stevens's house was until it was torn down.

A year from now, LancasterHistory will open the $25 million Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center For History and Democracy in Lancaster, PA. Besides Stevens, it will be about his Lancaster housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith, and the Underground Railroad. It should be magnificent.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/





Thursday, February 15, 2024

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 38

 Thaddeus Stevens's 14th Amendment is again in the news

February 2024

By Ross Hetrick

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is one of the greatest achievements of the Reconstruction era and the essential person in its birth was Thaddeus Stevens, the most powerful congressman of his time.

The amendment has been at the heart of many landmark court cases, including desegregation, same sex marriage and reproductive rights. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether it will bar a former President from running again for leading an alleged insurrection.

Stevens was present at the conception of the amendment, nursed it along during its difficult gestation and was there when it was finally born, just a month before Stevens died. The idea for the amendment was on Stevens's mind on December 4, 1865 when he orchestrated a brilliant parliamentary maneuver that barred ex-Confederates from taking over the 39th Congress. Without that, Congress would have been unable to pass some of the most important legislation in U.S. history.

Stevens immediately followed that up by forming the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, where he would introduce the initial version of the amendment. Then the measure would go through a series of transformations, some that Stevens approved others that he strenuously opposed. But in the end he voted for it saying it was the best that could be had.

The third section of the amendment was one of the provisions that was dramatically changed. As proposed by Stevens, that provision would have barred anybody who aided the Confederacy from voting until 1870. This was changed to bar people from holding any office who had participated in an insurrection after previously taking an oath to support the Constitution. 

Stevens was against this change, saying it could lead to the ex-Confederates taking over federal and state legislatures in the near future. But whereas his version of the section would have only been effective for two years, the rewritten section may make it applicable to the 21st century. Stevens was so concerned about this and other changes that he threatened to vote against his own amendment. But finally he consented to the changes, summing up his position in this statement in June 1866:

"In my youth, in my manhood, in my old age, I had fondly dreamed that when any fortunate chance should have broken up for a while the foundation of our institutions, and released us from obligations the most tyrannical that ever man imposed in the name of freedom, that the intelligent, pure and just men of this Republic, true to their professions and their consciences would have so remodeled all our institutions as to have free them from every vestige of human oppression, of inequality of rights, of the recognized degradation of the poor, and the superior caste of the rich. In short, that no distinction would be tolerated in this purified Republic but what arose from merit and conduct. That bright dream has vanished 'like the baseless fabric of a vision.' I find that we shall be obligated to be content with patching up the worst portions of the ancient edifice, and leaving it, in many of its parts, to be swept through by the tempests, the frosts, and storms of despotism."

"Do you inquire why, holding these views and possessing some will of my own, I accept so imperfect a proposition? I answer, because I live among men and not among angels, among men as intelligent as determined, and as independent as myself, who not agreeing with me, do not choose to yield their opinions to mine. Mutual concession, therefore, is our only resort, or mutual hostilities."

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/


Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 37

 Why support the Thaddeus Stevens Society

January 2024

By Ross Hetrick

In his 1939 biography about Thaddeus Stevens, Alphonse B. Miller wrote this: 

"It is an ironic commentary on fame that in so short a time as seventy years, Thaddeus Stevens has become little more than a name even to well-educated Americans. In his lifetime, which reached its climax during a major crisis in American affairs, he was the most powerful political figure in the land, and exercised a control over legislation never equaled before or since. At his death, he was accorded tributes very like those paid Abraham Lincoln himself. The effect of his policies persists down to the present. Moreover, he was an enthralling, idiomatic individual, about whom legends clustered which seemed to contain all the elements of permanent folk-lore. His blighting wit alone should have rendered his memory secure. Yet today, by some inexplicable quirk of fate, the emphases of history, of tradition, of common repute have somehow been diverted; and to mention Stevens is to loose a flood of shamefaced ignorance."

Other Stevens biographies have echoed the same sentiment and that is why the Thaddeus Stevens Society was founded 25 years ago -- to restore Stevens to his rightful place in American history. If you share this goal, you can join us by going to this web page,  https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/become-a-member-1  or you can call 717-347-8159.

Despite what Miller wrote, it is clear that Stevens lost his fame as a result of the "Lost Cause" propaganda effort, which managed to convince people that racist traitors were heroes and abolitionists were villains. And even though this campaign has been reversed in many instances in recent decades, proponents of the Confederacy remain strong.

The Thaddeus Stevens Society is the only organization that is exclusively dedicated to promoting Stevens's incredible legacy. The Society has spread information about Stevens through publication, social media and hundreds of educational programs. We have also worked with other groups to maintain the cemetery where Stevens is buried, to restore his house in Lancaster and to erect the first Stevens statue at the college named after him. Some of the Society's greatest achievements include a Stevens statue in Gettysburg, one of the largest collections of Stevens artifacts, and an extensive collection of research material on Stevens.

Now the Society posed to tackle two of its most ambitious efforts: the establishment of a Stevens office, museum and research center in Gettysburg and restructuring Stevens's cemetery in Lancaster so that it is on a sustainable basis.

Up to now, the Society has had a virtual office and its collection of Stevens artifacts have been kept in a private residence, viewable by appointment only. Now after a successful fundraising effort, the Society is looking for a suitable location, ideally close to the center of Gettysburg. Besides being the Society's office, it would have exhibits about Stevens incredible life and provide research material.

The other project involves the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery in Lancaster, PA, where Stevens is buried. Despite its historic significance, the cemetery has not had an owner since the middle of the 20th century when descendants of the founder, Martin Shreiner, abandoned the graveyard. Since then, the cemetery has relied on volunteer groups and Lancaster city. This has left the cemetery in a precarious position. 

 The volunteer group now overseeing the cemetery, the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation, is doing a great job and is working with the Society to create a non-profit entity that could take possession of the cemetery and establish an endowment fund that would ensure that the cemetery is maintained indefinitely. 

This is an ambitious effort and will need the involvement of local, state and federal agencies to be successful. But it is absolutely necessary to ensure the preservation of this historic and inspirational cemetery.

If you agree with these goals, please join the Thaddeus Stevens Society and help us restore Stevens to his rightful place in American history.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/







Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 36

 How Thaddeus Stevens and Edward McPherson saved the country on Dec. 4, 1865

December 2023

By Ross Hetrick

On December 4, 1865 Thaddeus Stevens and Edward McPherson executed a parliamentary maneuver that banned ex-Confederates from Congress and changed the course of American history.

The action was necessary because Andrew Johnson, who replaced Lincoln, refused to work with Congress on how to handle Reconstruction and if he had succeeded in his plans, the results would have been devastating.

With Congress not scheduled to reconvene for another eight months, Johnson started issuing pardons wholesale to ex-Confederates. Then he allowed the southern states to hold Congressional elections without any restrictions. 

Southern white men, the only ones allowed to vote, did what was expected. They elected 64 former Confederates, four generals, four colonels and six members of the Confederate cabinet. Even Alexander Stephens, the former vice president of the rebel nation, was elected to the U.S. Senate. They planned to join with their northern allies in Congress and take over the legislative branch of the government.

They let it be known that they intended to reject the massive federal war debt and embrace the Confederate debt. In other words, the U.S. government would have paid for the war to destroy the country. But even more sinister was their plan to not interfere with the re-enslavement of black Americans by southern states. Despite the passage of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery, southern states passed so-called Black Codes that allowed law enforcement to put blacks back on plantation as convict labor. If these things had happened, the north would have essentially lost the Civil War after the war.

But Thaddeus Stevens, who was the master of the House of Representatives, was not going to allow this to happen. With the help of Edward McPherson, the clerk of the House of Representatives and long time friend, Stevens came up with a plan.

When Congress convened on December 4, 1865, McPherson began calling the roll of the members of the House of Representatives. When he got to the new southern members, he skipped them using the authority given him by a previous Congress. Southerners and their allies tried to object but Stevens, a master of parliamentary procedure, shut them down with calls to order and points of order. This prevented the takeover of Congress by the ex-Confederates and gave the Republicans a working majority to combat the policies of President Johnson.

Congress was able to pass the first civil rights bill, fund the Freedman Bureau to aid the newly freed slaves and impose military control over southern states to protect the black population. But more importantly Congress was able to pass the 14th Amendment that would ensure that equality before the law would be the law of the land, even though it was neutered by the Supreme Court for many decades.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/





Friday, November 17, 2023

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 35

 The wig of Thaddeus Stevens

November 2023

By Ross Hetrick

Thaddeus Stevens had many distinctive traits, such as his cutting wit, his brilliant intellect and his dour countenance. But the thing that hit people first was his ill-fitting, chestnut colored wig.

Stevens started wearing a wig in the late 1820s after an attack of "brain fever," which was probably Typhoid, that rendered him hairless. The wig was said to have been cut to look alike from all sides so Stevens did not have to brother which way he put it on.

Steven never said exactly why he wore a wig rather than just showing his bald head like other men. It may have something to do with the particular era that he grew up in. Wigs were still popular among the elites, particularly U.S. Presidents, up until the late 1820s. But as the decades passed, wigs fell out of favor and beards and mustaches became fashionable. Stevens stuck with his wig and could not grow facial hair. 

His ill-fitting wig opened Stevens to derision by his political opponents.  One such occasion was the "Buckshot War" of 1838 when a mob brought from Philadelphia by the Democrats took over the legislature in Harrisburg by force. A political cartoon in a Democratic publication made light of Stevens losing his wig after having to jump out a window to escape the mob. But despite the ridicule, |Stevens continued to wear his wig and he may have had more than one. 

W. Frank Gorrecht recounts how while visiting Stevens with his father in the late 1860s, he told Stevens he was scheduled to make a recitation at a local church. Stevens asked for a preview and after hearing it, he handed him a wig and asked him to repeat it wearing the hair piece. "Whether or not there was virtue in the wig the second recitation induced him to tell me to take it with me, use it at the entertainment and return it to him when through with it," Gorrecht wrote in a 1933 article. Stevens became bedridden shortly thereafter and the wig was not returned. It is now part of the collection at Lancaster History.

In September 2013, Lancaster History launched an effort to raise $1,500 to restore the wig. One thousand dollars was raised  and the last $500 was donated by the Thaddeus Stevens Society.

Stevens's wig became a star in its own right in the 2012 Lincoln movie where Tommy Lee Jones, who played Stevens, wore a wig more outrageously ill-fitting than Stevens ever wore. In one scene,  Jones doffs the wig as he gets ready for bed and we see a cue ball Stevens, something that was never photographed while Stevens lived.

The most famous incident to involve Stevens's wig involved a female admirer who did not know of his baldness and asked for a lock of his hair. Not wanting to disappoint her, Stevens handed the entire wig to the astonished lady.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/



Friday, October 13, 2023

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 34

 Gettysburg needs a Thaddeus Stevens museum

October 2023

By Ross Hetrick

The Thaddeus Stevens Society is launching a fundraising effort to create a Gettysburg museum for one of its most important historic personalities.

To raise this money, the Society is participating in the Giving Spree, held by the Adams County Community Foundation, that will occur on November 9 at Gettysburg Middle School from 3 to 7 p.m. We are trying to raise $14,000 to rent a location. We will also begin an endowment fund to provide money for the long term. More information about the Giving Spree is at this link:  Giving Spree

Gettysburg needs a Thaddeus Stevens museum because of his incredible importance to  Adams County and to the country as a whole. The museum would also add an extra dimension to the tourism experience, going beyond the military aspects of the Civil War and detailing how the war changed the foundations of America. 

Thaddeus Stevens came to Gettysburg in 1816 at the age of 24 and within 20 years, he became one of its leading citizens. He was a prominent attorney involved in local and state politics. He helped establish Gettysburg College, started iron mills and worked to start a water works, a library and a bank. He moved to Lancaster, PA in 1842 and became the most powerful congressman during and after the Civil War. But despite the move, Stevens maintained his ties with Gettysburg, coming back regularly to oversee his iron mill at what is now Caledonia state park and attending the college's board of trustee meetings.

During the last 24 years, the Thaddeus Stevens Society has collected a treasure trove of Stevens artifacts. These include letters from Stevens, period newspapers, books about Stevens, postcards and pictures related to Stevens and even two stoves made at his two iron works. These artifacts are now stored in a residential apartment in Gettysburg and are available for viewing by contacting the Society at info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or 717-347-8159.

Gettysburg is the perfect place for a Stevens museum because Gettysburg is the capital of the Civil War. Tourists can learn about the battle that changed the course of the war and then learn about how Stevens and other politicians changed the course of American politics.

A location for the office and museum has not been determined. But a good location would be the McPherson house at the corner of Carlisle and Stevens Street. This house was the home of Edward McPherson, a Stevens associate who was the clerk of the House of Representatives and he played a key role in keeping ex-Confederates out of Congress after the Civil War. The house has been maintained in pristine 19th century condition by the McPherson family. Gettysburg College, which now owns the house, is not using the house and has not announced any future plans.

Another possible location is the first block of Chambersburg Street where Stevens's home was before it was torn down in the 1920s.  Various storefronts on this block come up for rent at various times. 

But first the money must be raised for the project and you are urged to make those contributions through the Giving Spree.  Besides your donation, the Society will also receive a matching donation that will be determined by the total amount that the Giving Spree collects for all charities.  If you plan to participate in the Giving Spree, please let us know by email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or call 717-347-8159.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which is dedicated to promoting Stevens's important legacy. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/