tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42782553811775115352024-03-25T10:45:00.034-07:00Thaddeus Stevens SocietyThaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-36664236527811986492024-03-17T01:07:00.000-07:002024-03-25T10:44:28.426-07:00The Great Commoner, Spring 2024, No. 48, www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Two big Thaddeus Stevens events in April</i></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span> </span><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7083c667-7fff-c4d1-fb6f-ffb7afffbe48"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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 </span><a href="mailto:info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> or call 717-347-8159.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><i>Gettysburg museum opens</i></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></span></p></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNhT_eA7locMC3FJ6kYkO93leZ-TwuJJ3hSS158MY_CNSEq884MTkFx5qDmsfbt0nNfEvmQBUQ7BSdkII9CrMGxh39HzdscDA8S9Ahy94Q7n2xNX1juT3HVMCmZ2YgIIwYG-9GPBnIejT8fh6q2souFM0YixdgulPN_rN812YWxVvDbl9TQGNel1e2Rk/s3648/MuseumStoves.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNhT_eA7locMC3FJ6kYkO93leZ-TwuJJ3hSS158MY_CNSEq884MTkFx5qDmsfbt0nNfEvmQBUQ7BSdkII9CrMGxh39HzdscDA8S9Ahy94Q7n2xNX1juT3HVMCmZ2YgIIwYG-9GPBnIejT8fh6q2souFM0YixdgulPN_rN812YWxVvDbl9TQGNel1e2Rk/w356-h198/MuseumStoves.JPG" width="356" /></a></div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Stoves made at iron works owned by Stevens</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQpT_SzvEmlKC6g6tmNyLNA_QterOnKKeP6qoTAMIMrEowamuFxpZbJSvsZuujXeqBUkkvjsaILRs4vfUTuna_9wBSVpA4PmkYpeqU-ki4nJszSiEQ-9OzSYK3tuGjt_Ri9GoPdNbp_RhbD6QRYKtgLbIq2Wq8vt8G13_S1U2eh1MlwziaOSoTa9skeU/s3648/MuseumDocuments.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQpT_SzvEmlKC6g6tmNyLNA_QterOnKKeP6qoTAMIMrEowamuFxpZbJSvsZuujXeqBUkkvjsaILRs4vfUTuna_9wBSVpA4PmkYpeqU-ki4nJszSiEQ-9OzSYK3tuGjt_Ri9GoPdNbp_RhbD6QRYKtgLbIq2Wq8vt8G13_S1U2eh1MlwziaOSoTa9skeU/s320/MuseumDocuments.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Letters and documents in a display case</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxlEVbCVPn4tuoXNVJFS40-XY9s8wH-qhyphenhyphenfehxjHrYlQlLs__2y2yUVCVXr0jlg1gcXdd_1iNTahJpAN0cFEipqhgPx2xdoiasDUPBvaunjVf5fN_JUnXr-BiUUO4LVHLWK0gsb5-3OXm6kLgxr1XWB8DROUGqpgf__zLL257n2jhM8gLlW-2CQ6jnBLU/s3648/MuseumCarrels.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxlEVbCVPn4tuoXNVJFS40-XY9s8wH-qhyphenhyphenfehxjHrYlQlLs__2y2yUVCVXr0jlg1gcXdd_1iNTahJpAN0cFEipqhgPx2xdoiasDUPBvaunjVf5fN_JUnXr-BiUUO4LVHLWK0gsb5-3OXm6kLgxr1XWB8DROUGqpgf__zLL257n2jhM8gLlW-2CQ6jnBLU/s320/MuseumCarrels.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Study carrels next to Stevens books and documents.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-SNb6HboJ60NQLvYK4eWSpJYlhvMKAU0DBrP9H7Py27Wnmu-cYNZiubuNaztRJUKZb-66VqrVmMUUmRQQRHPxvGar24vHZRgr1511aTy5CWvx0GuNOIRfZtpnkJDb1MY0s00ofj0fupO5hIGsZl4muD58HdCLRpkQbG-Yad2ov0X8wXRFh2lIgWqLbs/s3648/Lounge1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-SNb6HboJ60NQLvYK4eWSpJYlhvMKAU0DBrP9H7Py27Wnmu-cYNZiubuNaztRJUKZb-66VqrVmMUUmRQQRHPxvGar24vHZRgr1511aTy5CWvx0GuNOIRfZtpnkJDb1MY0s00ofj0fupO5hIGsZl4muD58HdCLRpkQbG-Yad2ov0X8wXRFh2lIgWqLbs/s320/Lounge1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Lounge and video area</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-2927de0e-7fff-f394-0b7b-3f7bc6f9a69c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Grand opening schedule</i></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesse Holt, a local vocalist, singing the Star-Spangled Banner. This will be followed by remarks by local officials and others.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Fundraising Banquet</i></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>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.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Tickets are $50 a person and can be obtained by emailing </span><a href="mailto:info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> or calling 717-347-8159.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><i>History of almost Thaddeus Stevens museums</i></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;"> </i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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. </span></p></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-e283f5b1-7fff-4ecf-f2d7-d1b04cb13a67"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsGjf2_yMPgbnT9-xvhjewF6SbK9rxMgqxRvdyPePuqY_u8YOxB-sne9xsz4o0RVzRZcdiKk2i4sBx_BF1UnUtZMxp-HletfUQI_vr-3akpRh1QAeXTFKs8oKL3ZBEGRUeXhuFx7jbf-DAJkQ3S_QR5L34ofQk5k_ew1XwhsfZZpHoUVnSXqC2T4DuYc/s1271/BlacksmithMuseum.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1271" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsGjf2_yMPgbnT9-xvhjewF6SbK9rxMgqxRvdyPePuqY_u8YOxB-sne9xsz4o0RVzRZcdiKk2i4sBx_BF1UnUtZMxp-HletfUQI_vr-3akpRh1QAeXTFKs8oKL3ZBEGRUeXhuFx7jbf-DAJkQ3S_QR5L34ofQk5k_ew1XwhsfZZpHoUVnSXqC2T4DuYc/s320/BlacksmithMuseum.jpg" width="320" /></a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A postcard showing the blacksmith shop in the 1940s</span></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOz1ptVL9CF7rB5XvZ7c5M7CqbRMUO-BS_iNlqzGPuE_EUlHYWgwdazhCigcMzARpZTmHPzF6l98oEBl5ckAa9sTtInEXHvEeAXPSWjasgDAMPBK9megymP6ZS-ouxbk9ndSZ0kNpUmzIbCzMrTTsrcsNca8zIoa-x2ncVZyBOx4MdvsRCVFyDJ2gvKRQ/s3680/Archives2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2760" data-original-width="3680" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOz1ptVL9CF7rB5XvZ7c5M7CqbRMUO-BS_iNlqzGPuE_EUlHYWgwdazhCigcMzARpZTmHPzF6l98oEBl5ckAa9sTtInEXHvEeAXPSWjasgDAMPBK9megymP6ZS-ouxbk9ndSZ0kNpUmzIbCzMrTTsrcsNca8zIoa-x2ncVZyBOx4MdvsRCVFyDJ2gvKRQ/s320/Archives2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> The display case at the archives room at Stevens College</span><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">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. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-74984476470136272952024-03-15T09:53:00.000-07:002024-03-15T20:39:29.975-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 39<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Finally, a Thaddeus Stevens museum</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">March 2024</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-4687507210928331332024-02-15T05:26:00.000-08:002024-02-19T04:14:39.753-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 38<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens's 14th Amendment is again in the news</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">February 2024</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">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. </span><span style="font-family: times;">But finally he consented to the changes, summing up his position in this statement in June 1866:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"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."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"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."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-18347876254149245932024-01-16T00:57:00.000-08:002024-01-16T02:14:49.557-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 37<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Why support the Thaddeus Stevens Society</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">January 2024</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In his 1939 biography about Thaddeus Stevens, Alphonse B. Miller wrote this: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">"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. </span><span style="font-family: times;">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."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">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. </span><span style="font-family: times;">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">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. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> 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. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">If you agree with these goals, please join the Thaddeus Stevens Society and help us restore Stevens to his rightful place in American history.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: times;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-74999265613215201942023-12-12T07:27:00.000-08:002023-12-13T01:32:21.463-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 36<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>How Thaddeus Stevens and Edward McPherson saved the country on Dec. 4, 1865</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">December 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">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. </span><span style="font-family: times;">This prevented the takeover of Congress by the ex-Confederates and gave the Republicans a working majority to combat the policies of President Johnson.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-17395060522586619342023-11-17T12:41:00.000-08:002023-11-20T05:00:59.109-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 35<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>The wig of Thaddeus Stevens</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">November 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>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. </span>But despite the ridicule, |Stevens continued to wear his wig and he may have had more than one. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens's wig became a star in its own right in the 2012 <i>Lincoln</i> 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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-70265409058132420502023-10-13T05:28:00.024-07:002023-10-20T05:46:47.145-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 34<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Gettysburg needs a Thaddeus Stevens museum</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">October 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society is launching a fundraising effort to create a Gettysburg museum for one of its most important historic personalities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">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: </span><a href="https://www.adamscountycf.org/accf2/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-Giving-Spree-Donation-Form.pdf" style="font-family: times;" target="_blank">Giving Spree</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-58552569269926171212023-09-30T04:49:00.010-07:002023-10-18T04:30:46.554-07:00The Great Commoner, Fall 2023, No. 47, www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens Society to meet November 5 at Adams County Historical Society Museum in Gettysburg</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society will meet Sunday, November 5, at 1 p.m. at the Adams County Historical Society Museum at 625 Biglerville Road (Route 34), Gettysburg, PA. After a light lunch and business meeting, there will be a tour of the new museum, which includes a new Thaddeus Stevens exhibit. Individuals will be charged $12 each by the museum. If you plan to attend, please email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or call 717-347-8159.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Gettysburg Mayor sets up Thad display</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBq81J168A_50nmb3WfbfjfvN4KLvtuehxeWL9k0cwSiV3wd6LCWX5Jf7CV5P-mwGgLdrqrUlQB3Rp5L7RZT7s-5Vnqz-YhfhGSsvAkY8wlCs3Z4rkQOiULM9bE2MdgW5mDB50h8dECyolafGV-oSpkAwZveK7OdxNu9VLtUmpo_xq6BynS1nXsyXQBa4/s1111/Thad-Rita.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1111" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBq81J168A_50nmb3WfbfjfvN4KLvtuehxeWL9k0cwSiV3wd6LCWX5Jf7CV5P-mwGgLdrqrUlQB3Rp5L7RZT7s-5Vnqz-YhfhGSsvAkY8wlCs3Z4rkQOiULM9bE2MdgW5mDB50h8dECyolafGV-oSpkAwZveK7OdxNu9VLtUmpo_xq6BynS1nXsyXQBa4/w393-h292/Thad-Rita.JPG" width="393" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Ross Hetrick portraying Thaddeus Stevens and Gettysburg Mayor Rita Frealing in front of new Stevens display outside her office.</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gettysburg Mayor Rita Frealing recently set up a Thaddeus Stevens display outside her office with items donated by the Society. The borough has also installed "Stevens Run" signs on Constitution Avenue.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Thaddeus Stevens was a major figure in Gettysburg history and deserves this recognition," the mayor said. "I hope these tributes will spark interest in Stevens among local residents."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The display consists of a bust of Stevens on a small oak table with flyers about Stevens's life. On the walls behind the bust are a painting of Stevens and a plaque listing his accomplishments. All the items were donated by the Society over the last few decades.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The new Stevens Run signs are on both sides of a small bridge that is just east of a Gettysburg College parking lot. The 2.2 mile stream is a tributary of Rock Creek and is part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Its name dates back to the early 1800s when it ran through land owned by Stevens, who sold six acres of the property to the college for its initial campus.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_i78C6nBu7fHRB7wyk-8H0RUeocPNjnPWc8VDPLUP5GWoZHjHB7IInKa34Lu3Ks01wtfr50GB2jcFIE7pXogz8Jtoiqo0OBH5J__Y2D-7ZCKsO3YCrUIoV8SBDnYVkBM9b53QFV_WSIqYbLdkWEURSrW0JV8h24VMS6ake4VZvwfhhMiZznHDEBPnhXI/s3648/StevensRun4.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="2048" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_i78C6nBu7fHRB7wyk-8H0RUeocPNjnPWc8VDPLUP5GWoZHjHB7IInKa34Lu3Ks01wtfr50GB2jcFIE7pXogz8Jtoiqo0OBH5J__Y2D-7ZCKsO3YCrUIoV8SBDnYVkBM9b53QFV_WSIqYbLdkWEURSrW0JV8h24VMS6ake4VZvwfhhMiZznHDEBPnhXI/w232-h412/StevensRun4.JPG" width="232" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Stevens Run sign on Constitution Avenue in Gettysburg.</b></span><p></p><p><b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large;"><i>Fundraiser to be launched for Society office and exhibit area</i></b></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society will launch a fundraising effort on November 9 to raise money for a Society office and exhibit area for its collection of Stevens artifacts. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Society is partnering with the Adams County Community Foundation for its Giving Spree, which will be held on November 9 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Gettysburg Middle School, 37 Lefever Street. The Society's table at the event will feature Ross Hetrick portraying Stevens who will walk around the area telling potential donors why he needs a new office in Gettysburg. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Donations will be given to the Foundation, which turns them over to the Society along with an "incentive match." More information about the event can be found at this link: <a href="https://www.adamscountycf.org/grants-scholarships/giving-spree-registration/" target="_blank">GivingSpree</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Society's goal is to raise $14,000, which would be combined with $13,000 the Society already has. This should be sufficient to set up the office and exhibit site and pay rent for about two years. We are also asking for donations to an endowment fund set up with the Foundation that could help fund the office in the future.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Various sites for the office and exhibit area are under considerations. We hope to find a place in downtown Gettysburg that would be close to where Stevens's house was on Chambersburg Street. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Our extensive collection of Stevens artifacts is now housed in a residential apartment on Stevens Street in Gettysburg. The exhibit can be seen by appointment by emailing info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or calling 717-347-8159.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">With the new location and regular office hours, we hope it will be a great draw for tourists and significant increase the public visibility of Thaddeus Stevens.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p><b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large;"><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large;"><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large;"><i>Society to lend Caledonia Stove to Lancaster History for proposed museum</i></b></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCTPE2e2pd4N5UZZXOeTG7e1fMAKO4WWrX2h0iP6EwDSzrODU6OWFBDJK0FWaynqZoTpb_HIAq43Tv02FFMxH7Ouef8tH7hwzBYQZEaQcVwGIvBvwvKwylWLFIlGRItIGpfErlPxm1OBUh2jcxI2StaZNR_x3kY8myDRv_tXQ2IPDDFcNR8P09OOzXVM/s441/Caledonia1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCTPE2e2pd4N5UZZXOeTG7e1fMAKO4WWrX2h0iP6EwDSzrODU6OWFBDJK0FWaynqZoTpb_HIAq43Tv02FFMxH7Ouef8tH7hwzBYQZEaQcVwGIvBvwvKwylWLFIlGRItIGpfErlPxm1OBUh2jcxI2StaZNR_x3kY8myDRv_tXQ2IPDDFcNR8P09OOzXVM/s320/Caledonia1.jpg" width="228" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><b>"Ten-Plate" stove made at Stevens's Caledonia Iron works more than 150 years ago.</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society will indefinitely lend a stove made at Stevens's Caledonia iron works to be part of the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lancaster History, which is developing the $22 million museum, is scheduled to take the stove in early 2024 for refurbishing. It will be available for public viewing in April 2025 when the museum is slated to be opened. The stove is now at the Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg. </span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The stove was donated to the Society by Leslie Robinson and Lynn Jensen in 2013.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Society owns another Caledonia stove as well as a stove made at Stevens's earlier Maria iron mill in Fairfield, PA, which will be part of the future Thaddeus Stevens exhibit in Gettysburg.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /><i style="font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></span><p></p><p><br /></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-51527630827408056752023-09-12T10:40:00.011-07:002023-09-19T06:51:36.726-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 33<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens and the Christiana Resistance </i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">September 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">On September 11, 1851 an organized group near the small town of Christiana, PA successfully fended off an effort by a Maryland slave owner to capture freedom seekers, killing the slaver in the process. The event, known as the Christiana Resistance or Riot, sparked a political firestorm that drew in Thaddeus Stevens.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The event had its origins a year earlier when Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, one of the worst laws ever enacted in the United States. The law made it so easy to capture fugitive slaves that it spurred a reverse Underground Railroad and Black people lived in fear of being kidnapped. This caused the formation of self-protection groups like the one in Christiana, PA created by William Parker. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens, who was in Congress in 1850, was fiercely opposed to the law, particularly the part requiring bystanders to assist slave owners. "This is asking more than my constituents will ever grant," Stevens said. "The slaveholder may pursue his slave among them with his own foreign myrmidons [minions], unmolested, except by their frowning scorn. But no law that tyranny can pass will ever induce them to join the hue and cry after the trembling wretch who has escaped from unjust bondage."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens's appeal did not prevent the law from being passed, but many northern congressmen were so embarrassed by the bill that they were absent during the final vote. This prompted Stevens to quip that the speaker of the House should "send a page to notify northern members the Fugitive Slave bill has been disposed of and they may now come back into the hall."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">His comments about his constituents' reaction to the law proved to be prophetic. The four freedom seekers arrived at the Parker house in Christiana with the slaveholder Edward Gorsuch and his posse in hot pursuit. After the invaders were repulsed in the early morning hours, Parker's wife blew a horn and dozens of neighbors came running to their aid, including three Quakers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Gorsuch tried to recruit the white Quakers who refused to help him. Even though the situation was looking dire, Gorsuch would not retreat. "My property I will have, or I'll breakfast in hell," he said and he got his wish. Gorsuch was shot and killed and his son was wounded. Parker and others fled to Canada.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The federal government 's reaction was swift and severe. Thirty-eight Blacks were arrested along with the three Quakers and charged with treason. Ironically, the trial was held in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in November 1851.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stevens was one of the lawyers defending the accused and from the start, he mocked the case against them. "Three harmless, non-resistance Quakers and eight-and-thirty wretched, miserable, penniless negroes, armed with corn-cutters, clubs and a few muskets, and headed by a miller in a felt hat, without a coat, without arms, and mounted on a sorrel nag, levied war against the United States," Stevens said. "Blessed be God that our union has survived the shock."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All the defendants were acquitted because, as Stevens said, they were not engaged in treason, that is making war against the United States. While it was a great victory for Stevens, it seemingly doomed his political career with the local Whig party refusing to nominate him for a third term as congressman. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But by the mid-1850s Stevens was back in the political fray helping to organize the new Republican party in Pennsylvania. He was then returned to Congress in 1859 and went on to be the most powerful congressman during and after the Civil War, helping to destroy slavery and becoming the father of the 14th Amendment, the single most important amendment to the Constitution requiring equal treatment under the law and extending civil liberties to the state level.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p><br /></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-30341568359638027942023-08-10T08:39:00.006-07:002023-08-14T03:02:38.568-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 32<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens and Gettysburg College</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">August 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens was one of the most important persons in Gettysburg College history, securing funding for the college's first major building, providing land for its campus and keeping it in Gettysburg when others wanted to move it in 1854.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Gettysburg College, then called Pennsylvania College, was founded in 1832 by Samuel Simon Schmucker in the Gettysburg Academy building at the corner of Washington and High Streets, where it still stands and is used as a private residence. The next year the college asked the Pennsylvania legislature for $18,000 to construct a building of its own and was promptly turned down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Then in 1834, Thaddeus Stevens, an outspoken supporter of education, entered the state House of Representative, pledging to support the appropriation for the college, which opened a political firestorm. Much of Adams County opposed the expenditure saying taxpayer money should not go to colleges, which benefited a few people, but rather go to building one-room schoolhouses for the masses. Others said the money should not be spent at all and taxes lowered.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens countered by saying Adams County was entitled to a fair share of the large amounts of money being spent by the state and that the appropriation would be a good investment. "If this legislature should deem it worthy of their countenance, it is not difficult to forsee its complete success," he said.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">He also confronted the fact that much of his constituents were against the expenditure. "Let demagogues note it for future use, and send it on the wings of the wind to the ears of every one of my constituents, in matters of this kind, I would rather hear the approving voice of one judicious, intelligent, and enlightened mind, than to be greeted by the loud huzzas of the whole host of ignorance," he said. This would become his political creed for the rest of his life -- he was going to do what he thought was right regardless of what was popular.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Even after the state legislature approved the $18,000 appropriation, the college had difficulty finding someone willing to sell it land for the campus. Once again, the college turned to Stevens who was one of the largest property owners in Gettysburg. Stevens, who had been elected to the college's board, sold six acres of land to the college at $88 an acre, a price that was determined by the other college trustees. The building that was erected with the money was Pennsylvania Hall, which is now the college's administrative center and its iconic cupola is the symbol of the institution.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens moved to Lancaster PA in 1842, but continued to serve on the college's board until his death in 1868. This membership proved to be crucial in 1854 when the board was considering moving the college to another city because of stagnant enrollment and an anemic endowment. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">On hearing about this, Stevens wrote: "If the scheme you refer to be real (which I can hardly believe) it is an attempt to violate an executed contract with the people of Adams County and is atrocious."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">He then made a special trip from Lancaster to Gettysburg to browbeat the trustees into approving a resolution that assured the college would remain in Gettysburg. The vote was a lopsided 10 to 4 with college founder Schmucker voting with the minority.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In appreciation for his long service, the college in 1868-- the last year of Stevens's life-- built Stevens Hall, which still stands on Carlisle Street. By that time Stevens had become famous as the nation's most powerful congressman, playing a key role in the destruction of slavery and the effort after the Civil War to change the Constitution to bring about a more equal society.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">So when first-year students walk from the campus to the national cemetery at the end of August to hear about Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, they should also be told how Thaddeus Stevens had a Gettysburg address for 26 years and is primarily responsible for them attending a college in Gettysburg.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-61729735635197752792023-07-11T11:54:00.007-07:002023-07-18T07:14:25.340-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 31<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens versus James Buchanan</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">July 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One of the great ironies of American history is that President James Buchanan, a defender of slavery, lived in the same city of Lancaster, PA, as Thaddeus Stevens, a relentless foe of the infernal institution.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">This stark contrast was highlighted in a new book called <i>American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal </i>by Neil King, a former Wall Street Journal reporter. The book recounts King's 330-mile walk from Washington, D.C. to New York City, which includes passing through Lancaster. He writes about the difference between the two men.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Without Buchanan, the country would be little different," King wrote. "He coddled the South and forestalled war for his four years in the White House. Then he retired to his high brick Federalist house on the edge of town to receive guests and work on his memoirs -- the first ever presidential account of a president's time in office -- as the nation imploded."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">On the other hand, King says, "Without Stevens, we would be a far different nation. Throughout the war he led Lincoln to places -- emancipation, Blacks serving in the military -- where Lincoln was reluctant or slow to go. After the war he led the charge to revamp the Constitution and to move aggressively on Reconstruction. He was one of the founders of the country's second founding." he also noted that when Stevens died, "it was if a sitting president had perished."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens moved from Gettysburg to Lancaster in 1842 and was elected to Congress from 1849 to 1853 and then again from 1859 to 1868 when he was the most powerful congressman and led a vetoproof Congress against President Andrew Johnson.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Of course, since Buchanan was president, even a terrible president, his Wheatland mansion has been lovingly preserved and his memory maintained at local historical institutions. But Stevens was woefully neglected in Lancaster during the 20th century. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>His modest house on Queen Street was not preserved and repeatedly remodeled to the point it was unrecognizable from it original appearance. Fortunately, what was left was saved from the wrecker's ball in the early 2000s and the exterior was restored to it's 1860s appearance. But the interior has remained a shell for more than 20 years. But now a</span> new $20 million museum called the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy is slated to open in early 2025. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Despite a century of neglect of Stevens, one monument to the Great Commoner remained -- his grave at the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery, the city's only integrated graveyard at the time of Stevens's death. King included a sketch of himself in front of the eight-foot granite memorial in his book. He also added it's inspirational inscription:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries limited as to race by charter rules, I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life: Equality of Man Before his Creator."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-1149879871624352282023-06-16T15:40:00.000-07:002023-06-16T15:40:32.584-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 30<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>The financial genius of the Union cause</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">June 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">When the Civil War started in 1861, the United States was in horrible financial shape. The country was $100 million in debt, it's main source of income -- duties on imported goods -- was significantly reduced with the departure of southern states, it's banking system differed from state to state and the paper currency was a mishmash of private "banknotes" with wildly varying values.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But within the first few years of the war, Thaddeus Stevens and the Lincoln administration were able to right the financial ship helping to achieve Union victory. Meanwhile, Confederate officials ran their economy into the ground.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, Stevens lead the effort to adopt federal paper currency. Th</span><span style="font-family: times;">e first obstacle was the Constitution, which only specifies the coining of money. And while this worked for the young republic, it was unworkable during the Civil War when the Union needed billions of dollars.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stevens argued that even though the Constitution did not include the power to print money it did imply the ability. "If nothing could be done by Congress except what is enumerated in the Constitution, the government could not live a week," Stevens said during the debate about paper money.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Of course the great danger of paper money is runaway inflation. This was partially solved by making the money "legal tender." This is not just some slogan that we now take for granted on our money. It was an innovative legal requirement that everybody had to accept this paper money for payment. In the era of private bank notes, people could pick and choose what they accepted.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Confederacy was also forced to print money, but it did not make them legal tender and hyper inflation soon set in.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stevens also spearheaded another important change by pushing through the National Banking Act that created federal charters for banks, which continue to this day. This turned private banks into depositories and receivers for federal funds, which helped to hold down inflation.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps the most controversial of Stevens's financial changes was the creation of the first income tax. By today's standards, the income tax was rather quaint. It required a 3 percent tax on incomes from $600 to $10,000, 5 percent for over $10,000 and 7.5 percent for those few who made more than $50,000. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The income tax was eventually declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1895, but it was revived in 1913 with the ratification of the sixteenth amendment to the Constitution. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">All these financial innovations that Stevens helped to push through were absolutely necessary to pay for the soldiers, the food and the weapons that crushed the slave power.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: times;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-30856674383448852642023-05-19T05:26:00.004-07:002023-05-19T12:55:50.977-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 29<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens strikes again through the 14th Amendment</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">May 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens's greatest achievement, the 14th Amendment, is once again in the news.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">As the president and Congress grapple over the debt limit, many commentators are saying one solution is to simply have the President pay the nation's debts as the 14th Amendment requires. The fourth section of the amendment says: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">It would seem the provision is custom made for this situation since the debts have already been authorized by Congress and now they are in need of payment. Refusing to increase the debt limit is like running up a credit card bill and then not paying because you don't feel like it. The 14th Amendment says the county can not do that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But even though this solution is getting more traction than it has in the past, many politicians are saying the constitutional provision only applies to the situation after the Civil War when the arrogance of ex-Confederates threatened to tank the finances of the United States.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Right after the Civil War, southern politicians let it be known that if they got back into power, they were going to reject the federal debt, which had been run up to an astronomical level to put down the rebellion. They also intended to honor the debt to Confederate bond owners. In essence, they wanted the United States to pay for the war against itself..</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">President Andrew Johnson helped the ex-Confederate in this insidious plan by allowing the white southerners to hold congressional elections and elect ex-Confederate officers and politicians. But fortunately, Stevens and fellow Republicans were able to bar the ex-Confederate from taking their seat with the use of a brilliant parliamentary maneuver on December 4, 1865. And then j</span><span style="font-family: times;">ust to make sure the ex-Confederate and their allies didn't try later to reject the federal debt, Congress included the debt provision in the 14h Amendment. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">The possibility of using the 14th Amendment was bandied about in 2011 during the last debt limit crisis. But now it is getting more serious considerations as shown by 11 Democratic Senators recently sending a letter to President Biden urging him to use the amendment. One of the strongest proponents of using the provision is Professor Garrett Epps, a noted Constitutional scholar. His argument can be found on this video: <a href=" https://youtu.be/JknnYrsO7Mw" target="_blank">EPPS</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The 14th Amendment is the longest amendment in the Constitution and covers much more than just the national debt. It repeatedly comes up when the country deals with issues as diverse as citizenship, equality, freedom of speech, the press and religion and even abortion. Perhaps if Stevens was mentioned more often about his role in creating this crucial part of the Constitution he would be better known.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-26697397355028642602023-04-14T11:48:00.005-07:002023-04-14T12:15:20.290-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 28<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>The funniest congressman part 2</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">April 2023</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In last month's column, I gave a sampling of Thaddeus Stevens's cutting and effective wit. Here is some more.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stumping into the House of Representatives just as a vote was about to be taken on a contested seat, Stevens inquired what was under consideration. "Oh, we are just about to vote on the question of two damn rascals fighting for a seat," said a fellow congressman. "Well," said Stevens reaching for a ballot, "which is our damn rascal."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In an effort to create better relations between Stevens and President Andrew Johnson, friends of Johnson went to Stevens and tried to convince him that he was not such a bad fellow. They particularly pointed out that, like Stevens himself, Johnson was a self-made man. "I never thought of it that way," Stevens said, "but it does relieve God almighty of a heavy responsibility."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A letter writer to Stevens said he had been told that Stevens was an unbeliever, to which Stevens replied: "I have always been a firm believer in the Bible. He is a fool who disbelieves the existence of God as you say is charged on me. I also believe in the existence of hell for the special benefit of this slanderer."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">When walking in Lancaster one day, Stevens turned down a narrow sidewalk and encountered his old enemy, Alexander Harris. "I never get out of the way of a skunk," said Harris." Stepping off the curb, Stevens replied, "But I always do."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">During a trial a Dr. Smith, a leading doctor in Chambersburg, PA, was a witness against a Stevens's client. Dr. Oliver, a quack doctor, was also a witness. In his summation, Stevens purposely mixed up the names of the two doctors in order to undercut Dr. Smith's testimony. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Dr. Smith, who was in his office at the time, was told about this as it was happening. Enraged Dr. Smith grabbed a cane and proclaimed he was going to beat Stevens for his treacherous behavior. Marching down the street towards the courthouse, a crowd gathered behind him to see the beating. Dr. Smith met Stevens coming out of the courthouse. "Mr. Stevens," Dr. Smith proclaimed, "I understand that in commenting on my testimony you called me Dr. Oliver." With a shocked look on his face, Stevens replied, "Did I? I am very sorry for it and when I meet Dr. Oliver, I will apologize." The crowd erupted with laughter with Dr. Smith joining them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-3489728562930640152023-03-17T15:12:00.002-07:002023-03-20T03:48:30.705-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 27<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>The funniest congressman in U.S. history</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">March 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens was perhaps the funniest congressman in American history, and he used his acerbic wit to devastate his oratorical opponents and destroy their arguments. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">While some of this humor has been passed down, much of it was lost because the transcribers of c</span><span style="font-family: times;">ongressional sessions could not hear them, though regularly noting the laughter around Stevens.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Never has wit of all varieties exhibited in more bewildering profusion," said Vermont Rep. Justin S. Morrill. "He daily wasted in this private and semi-grotesque distribution of mirth, sense and satire, often indiscriminately among friends and foes, a capital sufficient, could it have been preserved, to rival almost any of the acknowledged masters among the colloquial wits of this or any age," he said.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One of his most famous jokes was directed at his fellow Pennsylvania politician, Simon Cameron, Lincoln's first Secretary of War. Stevens complained to Lincoln about some of the overly priced war contracts, which might have included kickbacks to Cameron. "Why, Mr. Stevens, you don't think the Secretary would steal, do you?" Lincoln said. Stevens replied, "Well, Mr. President, I don't think he would steal a red-hot stove." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Lincoln liked the joke and told Cameron, who did not like it and demanded Stevens retract it. Stevens obediently went to Lincoln and said: "I said I did not think Mr. Cameron would steal a red-hot stove. I am now forced to withdraw that statement."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Later, Lincoln discovered how corrupt Cameron was and appointed him ambassador to Russia to get him out of his cabinet. Stevens wisecracked, "Send word to the Czar to bring in his things at night."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Also Stevens delivered one of the greatest put downs of the evil institution of slavery, which southern politicians regularly praised.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Gentlemen on this floor [House of Representatives] and in the Senate, had repeatedly, during this discussion, asserted that slavery was a moral, political, and personal blessing, that the slave was free from care, contented, happy, fat and sleek. Comparisons have been instituted between slaves and laboring freemen, much to the advantage of the condition of slavery. Instances were cited where the slave, after having tried freedom, had voluntarily returned to resume his yoke," Stevens said.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Well, if this be so, let us give all a chance to enjoy this blessing. Let the slaves, who choose, go free, and the free, who choose, become slaves. If these gentlemen believe there is a word of truth in what they preach, the slaveholder need be under no apprehension that he will ever lack bondsmen. Their slaves would remain, and many freemen would seek admission into this happy condition. Let them be active in propagating their principles. We will not complain if they establish societies in the south for that purpose -- abolition societies to abolish freedom. Nor will we rob the mails to search for incendiary publications in favor of slavery, even if they contain seductive pictures and cuts of those implements of happiness -- handcuffs, iron yokes and cat-o'-nine-tails."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-11766107485400251452023-03-05T13:29:00.006-08:002023-03-06T15:57:37.798-08:00The Great Commoner, Spring 2023, No. 46, www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens Society to meet on April 7 in Lancaster, PA</i></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society will meet on Friday, April 7, in Lancaster, during the dinner after the annual graveside ceremony. The graveside ceremony will be at 4:30 p.m. at Stevens grave in the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery at Chestnut and Mulberry Streets in Lancaster, PA. Then at 6 p.m. the Stevens Day Dinner will be held at the Stevens College at 750 E. King Street. If you plan to attend, please email <a href="mailto:info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com">info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com</a> or call 717-347-8159. </span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">The dinner is free due to the generosity of John Lovell, a member in California who is paying for the dinner.</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens is star at new Adams County museum</i></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Adams County Historical Society museum in Gettysburg is opening on April 15 and Thaddeus Stevens is a big star.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society made a $3,000 donation in January to support the facility. The multi-million dollar facility at 625 Biglerville Road in Gettysburg has galleries with exhibits stretching from prehistoric times to the present days. There is even a Disney type room that provides a visceral experience of what it would be like when the Confederates invaded Gettysburg, complete with the rumble and flashes of artillery explosions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens has his own glass case which tells about his time in Gettysburg from 1816 to 1842 before moving to Lancaster, PA. Included in the case is a chair from his house, books, an oil lamp and the gavel that he used as a local school director. In another case there is a stove made at the Maria iron furnace in Fairfield, which he owned with other investors from 1826 to 1837. In the museum’s gift shop there are Stevens biographies along with postcards and refrigerator magnets with Stevens's image. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">You can attend the opening festivities by clicking this link: </span></span><a href="https://www.achs-pa.org/visit/reserve-tickets.html?fbclid=IwAR0dJvy5jbDCKj4AgQwnsCK-Ed39KkRlGan08SC5Tzz8kth-ky3G5cVxf40" style="font-family: times; font-size: large; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Adams County Museum</a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKvx1N949S76WbdHDNqASFvui8Qh6LDLcE12zjBKGbg1EBkesiFBSYiCJ7pbZW_noBDVml3lLOjbua7LTKm1g7t8xN3r8xWmUGcgsoNmgLeKUiXbAS7NUpOA0he8qj4j0NC1UoJgfK1yWtu4XmtnntXXGVxjqSAF8jmf5mwFEnxWJ9VxSQRqFI9VA/s989/Check.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="989" data-original-width="978" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKvx1N949S76WbdHDNqASFvui8Qh6LDLcE12zjBKGbg1EBkesiFBSYiCJ7pbZW_noBDVml3lLOjbua7LTKm1g7t8xN3r8xWmUGcgsoNmgLeKUiXbAS7NUpOA0he8qj4j0NC1UoJgfK1yWtu4XmtnntXXGVxjqSAF8jmf5mwFEnxWJ9VxSQRqFI9VA/w367-h371/Check.JPG" width="367" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Ross Hetrick, portraying Stevens, presents Adams County Museum Historian Tim <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Smith with $3,000 for new museum.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZpXlzDjGbkAPH4cntl0IjHgYpO4izcG4C3Yaeny8n5W6qNLp-2tSp3w5kuhTNa4yqPZIJnmdIY_tiCxQILCenNbbyXS21xr4QDpvpeJSoPbWFDLQHdTfV3mGOE6ju1JFB5wrFw1SnoMRsBtA_39vAfHgIj4-pp7eBqybV5KnWFPCPxWWDHwvSiRl/s3648/AdamsHistory2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZpXlzDjGbkAPH4cntl0IjHgYpO4izcG4C3Yaeny8n5W6qNLp-2tSp3w5kuhTNa4yqPZIJnmdIY_tiCxQILCenNbbyXS21xr4QDpvpeJSoPbWFDLQHdTfV3mGOE6ju1JFB5wrFw1SnoMRsBtA_39vAfHgIj4-pp7eBqybV5KnWFPCPxWWDHwvSiRl/s320/AdamsHistory2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Banner outside the museum with Stevens peeking out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VSfD7dLj4pCXcjetNQL8FK_i3LSzljLNflzIX2XC1kBAZvXdcu-WgmOWlWtmeoug_SajFUrLCD1KUC0M_5DMTIzRswHnu_G9RWpVSWEV0e9U0dtE1CN_Uvv0VEnqc5RKhXaLXvIIk51RlSMsZUQCslJP3kQkzWzXaoKSnKHQJBR2kDaIjnbZpJsh/s3648/AdamsHistory3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VSfD7dLj4pCXcjetNQL8FK_i3LSzljLNflzIX2XC1kBAZvXdcu-WgmOWlWtmeoug_SajFUrLCD1KUC0M_5DMTIzRswHnu_G9RWpVSWEV0e9U0dtE1CN_Uvv0VEnqc5RKhXaLXvIIk51RlSMsZUQCslJP3kQkzWzXaoKSnKHQJBR2kDaIjnbZpJsh/s320/AdamsHistory3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Entrance to the new Adams County museum.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJLSaEpNFtl7axJHY5v3MJPiTd-o8YfDCktuV2-asIrjtGRtbceSuA39hK4wCB9CtIhNzooEca_VwuhiH2uKLvDt5BEwkhMFbMBHEKnObVW8kobFp7Tm2bt1fc-A7Osump7MeW6ebLkSddXE36PV_Dk1eY2OPq5ukCc275nBOXot2_-ORbrAWbry_/s3648/AdamsHistory4.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJLSaEpNFtl7axJHY5v3MJPiTd-o8YfDCktuV2-asIrjtGRtbceSuA39hK4wCB9CtIhNzooEca_VwuhiH2uKLvDt5BEwkhMFbMBHEKnObVW8kobFp7Tm2bt1fc-A7Osump7MeW6ebLkSddXE36PV_Dk1eY2OPq5ukCc275nBOXot2_-ORbrAWbry_/s320/AdamsHistory4.JPG" width="180" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpiFqmYK11yEGoT8TmG-GpQuZjjjGtjCUFDpHog6YyxnPJtw_iBytvLmwHP5y1Gbyan9--XVhRicpr6cfzT1aWpRUT_0se9PzJ8S57D4V67ZAH57FsvPYZq2gvHQH6uUjoH4DXe9yMm8wGsi6vYRCapkQRmP5x1jiPNClrV91xdp3HeLeMGWHeRMRy/s3648/AdamsHistory7.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpiFqmYK11yEGoT8TmG-GpQuZjjjGtjCUFDpHog6YyxnPJtw_iBytvLmwHP5y1Gbyan9--XVhRicpr6cfzT1aWpRUT_0se9PzJ8S57D4V67ZAH57FsvPYZq2gvHQH6uUjoH4DXe9yMm8wGsi6vYRCapkQRmP5x1jiPNClrV91xdp3HeLeMGWHeRMRy/s320/AdamsHistory7.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>The Thaddeus Stevens exhibit at the museum<p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_e_zkxAS7pLwSBsdW1TnWnxHQXosowr7f6R62XJjkPBXyrv-pxb3eY0YVXxyXhx6eg0DCxHhHPtkdv_s7JUrZMOjQsj8ee0uWIJKPcF8OQIiaxgOHAiqCfkyV8Xx3vARebqzDmJ-LEw7zRmxq1SVqHlH7VNgSgBhsEM4LZmh-wAVBDMWUB0qCq5mH/s3648/AdamsHistory8.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_e_zkxAS7pLwSBsdW1TnWnxHQXosowr7f6R62XJjkPBXyrv-pxb3eY0YVXxyXhx6eg0DCxHhHPtkdv_s7JUrZMOjQsj8ee0uWIJKPcF8OQIiaxgOHAiqCfkyV8Xx3vARebqzDmJ-LEw7zRmxq1SVqHlH7VNgSgBhsEM4LZmh-wAVBDMWUB0qCq5mH/s320/AdamsHistory8.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">Stove made at Stevens's Maria Furnace near Fairfield, PA</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JJ3h8xJGgO9RlEoUOck4PNOJ0pcf29_K2FziHEUeaQbiJDNiRR8mLz231hRymuuTNW0UpZWxiAzRp_X3ALFdwwC3gHTiiaZn9qgSftjzJO5kzJn3eNjPCrymZwmwShKTW7LNg_rJWjW1vvzm_K8aV9-G63OoKVV1QP3UcDFpAjHUlYssFFgwUk_J/s3648/AdamsHistory12.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3648" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JJ3h8xJGgO9RlEoUOck4PNOJ0pcf29_K2FziHEUeaQbiJDNiRR8mLz231hRymuuTNW0UpZWxiAzRp_X3ALFdwwC3gHTiiaZn9qgSftjzJO5kzJn3eNjPCrymZwmwShKTW7LNg_rJWjW1vvzm_K8aV9-G63OoKVV1QP3UcDFpAjHUlYssFFgwUk_J/s320/AdamsHistory12.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Both Stevens refrigerator magnets and postcards are sold at the museum</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large; text-indent: 36pt;"><i>Burning of Caledonia reenactment </i></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large; text-indent: 36pt;"><i>planned for late June.</i></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">June 26, 2023 will mark the 160th anniversary of the burning by Confederates of Thaddeus Stevens’s Caledonia iron furnace near Chambersburg, PA and the Stevens Society along with Caledonia State Park and the Franklin County Visitors Bureau are planning a reenactment of the event. If you would like to help stage this event, please contact the Society at </span><a href="mailto:info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or call 717-347-8159. A date for the reenactment is yet to be determined.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The destruction of the iron mill by Confederate General Jubal Early was the largest civilian financial loss of the Gettysburg campaign, costing Stevens $75,000 in the currency of the day. But despite this devastating loss, Stevens was able to continue to pay the 250 workers at the facility as he rebuilt the iron mill. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d63e7630-7fff-e652-7a82-848b72672295"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">We hope to recapture all the drama and tragedy connected to this important event in the Civil War.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Stevens/Smith project slated for completion in <span> <span> </span> </span>late 2024 or early 2025</i></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy is slated to be completed in late 2024 or early 2025, according to LancasterHistory, the group managing the project. So far $12 million has been raised by the historic group of a needed $20 million. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens’s house in Lancaster was saved from destruction in 2000 by the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, which was able to restore the exterior of the house to its 1860 appearance. But because of financial problems, the project was turned over to LancasterHistory in 2010, which has delayed completion due to other projects.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society has urged LancasterHistory to devote more than half of the facility to Stevens’s legislative achievements, which include the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-8108938136676943892023-02-17T06:11:00.005-08:002023-02-17T10:51:23.688-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 26<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Uncovering an historic treasure in Brownsville, PA</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">February 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">On January 7, a group of volunteers cut through a thicket of prickly bushes and vines in Brownsville, PA near Chambersburg to reveal a great historic treasure. A treasure that links Thaddeus Stevens to the Underground Railroad and the service of Black soldiers in the struggle against slavery.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The treasure was a long neglected graveyard that contained several tombstones of members of the United States Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War. One of the most prominent of these markers was for Alexander Raimer, who died in 1898 at age 82 and served in Company C 25th U.S. Colored Troops. The headstone is very handsome with a floral engraving at the top. Delving more into his background, it was discovered that the place of his burial is the Raimer Family Cemetery.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Black soldiers had joined the military despite the Confederacy announcing they would not treat them like white soldiers. Instead, if they were captured, they would be enslaved or executed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The soldiers probably lived in the surrounding area, which was a Black community known as Africa in the mid-nineteenth century and one of the chief occupations was strip mining iron ore for Thaddeus Stevens's Caledonia iron mill a few miles to the east. With their large Black populations, Africa and Caledonia were refuges for freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Besides his participation in the Underground Railroad, Stevens was one of the earliest advocates of freeing the slaves in the South and using them in the military. "I am for sending the Army through the whole slave population of the South, and asking them to come from their masters, to take the weapons which we furnish, and to join us in this war of freedom against traitors and rebels," Stevens said in July 1862. "I view it as a means, and the only means, of putting down this rebellion; and if in doing that we extinguish the cause of the rebellion, I shall not mourn for it -- which is slavery."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Because of Stevens's efforts, congress did pass a law to use Black soldiers and recruitment started later in 1863. But in a cruel twist, the Black soldiers were paid half that of white soldiers even though they faced graver dangers. This was abhorrent to Stevens, who was successful in equalizing Black soldiers' pay in 1864. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Why should they [soldiers] not all be paid alike?" Stevens said in April 1864. "Why should they not all be clothed alike? Why should they not be armed alike? Why should they not all charge the rebels alike, and die alike in defense of the Union? . . . Indeed, sir, if any were to have a preference over others in pay and in inducements to join the service, it ought to be that class of men whose perils are greatest when they go into the army. The black man knows when he goes there that his dangers are greater than the white man's. He runs not only the risk of being killed in battle, but the certainty, if taken prisoner, of being slaughtered instead of being treated as a prisoner of war."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens would be so pleased to know that the tombstones of Reamer's and other brave USCT soldiers buried in the small plot are now visible for all to see and admire.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-8777309424084013702023-01-13T00:46:00.005-08:002023-01-17T10:39:11.655-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 25<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens and the drive for the 13th Amendment</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">January 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One hundred and fifty-eight years ago this month, the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, was barely passed in the House of Representatives, which was surprising considering that all of the ardent supporters of slavery from the south had long left the House to fight for a new country dedicated to slavery.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One of the strongest supporters for that amendment was Thaddeus Stevens, who had worked for more than 40 years to see slavery destroyed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"What an opportunity is presented to this Republic to vindicate her consistency and become immortal," Stevens said in January 1862, years before the amendment was passed. "The occasion is forced upon us, and the invitation presented to strike the chains from four million of human beings, and create them MEN; to extinguish slavery on this whole continent; to wipe out, so far as we are concerned, the most hateful and infernal blot that has ever disgraced the escutcheon of man, to write a page in the history of the world whose brightness shall eclipse all the records of heroes and sages."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But the amendment was not preordained. In fact, the first attempt at a 13th Amendment was actually a sinister effort to appease the South by further enshrining the horrid institute in the Constitution.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">As southern states were leaving the Union in early 1861, the House and the Senate approved a Constitutional amendment that would have barred any amendment that would interfere with slavery. Called the Corwin Amendment after its sponsor, Rep. Thomas Corwin of Ohio, it was signed by outgoing President James Buchanan, even though a presidential signature was not needed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The measure went on to be approved by the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Rhode Island, Maryland and Illinois. Even Abraham Lincoln said he had no objection to the Corwin Amendment. But to be fair to Lincoln, he and most abolitionists conceded slavery was completely protected by the Constitution and the new amendment would make no difference.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But the proposed amendment did not dissuade the South from leaving. Their main objection was that Lincoln and the Republican party were against the expansion of slavery into new states, a position they would not compromise on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens and other congressmen submitted amendments to abolish slavery in the spring of 1864, and while the measure passed in the Senate, it failed in the House where it was 13 votes short of the necessary two-thirds vote. Then in December 1864, Lincoln got behind the effort publicly and the amendment squeaked through the House by the end of January with only three votes to spare.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Even with Lincoln support, the effort to approve the amendment was a monumental legislative struggle, as shown in the 2012 movie <i>Lincoln. </i>Democrat George Pendleton of Ohio was the chief defender of slavery and accused Stevens and his allies of causing the Civil War. Stevens responded by saying Pendleton's epitaph should be, "Here rests the ablest and most pertinacious defender of slavery and opponent." In contrast, Stevens said he would be satisfied if his tombstone read: "Here lies one who never rose to any eminence, and who only courted the low ambition to have it said that he had striven to ameliorate the condition of the poor, the lowly, the downtrodden of every race and language and color."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-13237849433615436382022-12-12T13:03:00.012-08:002022-12-14T21:09:27.539-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 24<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens on honoring Confederate dead</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">December 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Shortly after the Civil War, Thaddeus Stevens said honoring the Confederate dead along with the Union casualties was "blasphemy."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"If the loyal dead, who are thus associated with the traitors who murdered them, [are] put on the same footing with them, are to be treated as the 'common dead of the nation,' " Stevens said, then the Union dead would break out of their graves and haunt the advocates of that policy, until their "eyeballs were seared."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">No graves were opened nor eyeballs seared at the Remembrance Day parade on November 19 in Gettysburg, but Stevens and others on the Union side would be gravely dismayed to see hundreds of Confederate reenactors marching in the street with many on the sidelines cheering them on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Gettysburg has the unusual situation of having two Civil War events in November that sometimes coincide and sometimes are days apart. One is Dedication Day when the immortal speech by Abraham Lincoln is celebrated at the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19. The other one is Remembrance Day, when Union and Confederate reenactors parade through town to honor Civil War dead on both sides. Remembrance Day is on the Saturday closest to the 19th. So while they are not the same thing, most people often see them as marking Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">This year, 2022, both events fell on the 19th so people were treated to the sight of Confederate reenactors proudly parading while others honored Lincoln, who was cut down by a Confederate agent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">While most people accept the irony without comment, Scott Hancock, a Gettysburg College professor, boldly walked along the side of the Confederate reenactors holding a sign pointing to them saying: "This Army Fought for Slavery." This was the latest public effort by Hancock to inform people about what the Confederacy was fighting for.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"As long as Confederate reenactors with Confederate flags march on Remembrance Day," Scott said recently, "somebody needs to be reminding spectators that if Black people had not been enslaved, there would have been no Confederacy, no Confederate Army, no battle at Gettysburg, and no American Civil War." </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">While opponents of honoring the Confederacy have gained ground in recent years as shown with the removal of monuments around the country, Confederate defenders remain strong as evidenced by the Remembrance Day parade. The remarkable dedication of these people to defend an inhuman system dates back to long before the Civil War.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Even in a bad, a wicked cause, she shows a united front" Stevens said of southern representatives in an 1850 speech. "All her sons are faithful to the cause of human bondage, because it is their cause. But the North -- the poor, timid, mercenary, driveling North -- has no such united defenders of her cause, although it is the cause of human liberty. None of the bright lights of the nation shine upon her section. Even her own great men have turned her accusers. She is the victim of low ambition -- an ambition which prefers self to country, personal aggrandizement to the high cause of human liberty. She offered up as a sacrifice to propitiate southern tyranny -- to conciliate southern treason."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But there was Thaddeus Stevens.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-44666137389953460902022-11-18T12:06:00.000-08:002022-11-18T12:06:10.876-08:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 23<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens and the Gettysburg Address</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">November 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Asked why he and other prominent politicians were not going to attend Lincoln's speech in Gettysburg, Thaddeus Stevens said, "Let the dead bury the dead."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens quoted this enigmatic Biblical passage because he thought Lincoln was politically dead at the time and would not be re-elected president. But near the end of 1864, battlefield victories came in fast and furiously and Lincoln won a second term, only to be cut down a month into his new term.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">It's too bad that Stevens didn't go to Lincoln's immortal address. Perhaps he could have shown Lincoln around Gettysburg, where he had lived for 26 years, and some of the fame of the event would have rubbed off on him. Despite his legendary ability of persuasion, Thad could have used a good PR consultant some times. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One thing Lincoln's speech established for all time is the truth that "brevity is the soul of wit." Edward Everett's two-hour speech at the same event is long forgotten and only brought up as an example of wordiness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In an age when marathon speeches were common, Stevens's orations were distinguished for being short, eloquent and to the point. While none of his speeches were to become as well know as the Gettysburg Address, Stevens poetically summed up his political principles on June 13, 1866 just before the passage of the 14th Amendment in Congress. The measure, which he introduced, promised to fulfill the long delayed promise of all people are created equal and extend the protection of the Bill of Rights to the state level. And even though it was his creation, he was dissatisfied with the way it had been changed, particularly on voting rights.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stevens expressed his dismay and hope this way: “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 rid them from every vestige of human oppression, of the inequity 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. This bright dream has vanished ‘like the baseless fabric of a vision.’ I find that we shall be obliged 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 the storms of despotism.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> "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.”</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-54640358775436663262022-10-14T10:28:00.003-07:002022-10-14T11:30:25.196-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles, No. 22<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens Society dedicated to collecting and preserving Stevens artifacts</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">October 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One of the most important missions of the Thaddeus Stevens Society is to collect and preserve items related to Stevens and his fight for freedom and equality.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In its 22 years of existence, the Society has amassed a nice collection of letters, period newspapers, postcards, books, stoves made at iron mills owned by Stevens and even music to honor Stevens. And you can see these items at a meeting of the Thaddeus Stevens Society on Sunday, November 6, at 1 p.m. in Gettysburg. There will also be a walking tour of Stevens sights in Gettysburg. If you'd like to attend this meeting, which includes a potluck lunch, please email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">While books about famous people are important, we also yearn to visit places where these celebrated individuals lived and breathed. Millions of people a year flock to places like Mount Vernon, Monticello, Wheatland and even Graceland. But despite Stevens's oversized importance to American history, there were no places for admirers to visit for more than a hundred years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">This started to change in the 1990s when the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster established its archives room in the college's library, which featured a variety of Stevens artifacts, including his bed, his clubfoot boot along with letters and newspaper articles about him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center in Gettysburg, which opened in 2013, also has a variety of exhibits about Stevens. This will be supplemented in 2023 when the new Adams County Historical Society museum opens. It will include an exhibit specifically about Thaddeus Stevens and his relation to Gettysburg and the surrounding Adams County.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But the really big event is still more than a year or two in the future. That will be when Stevens's house in Lancaster at the corner of Queen and Vine Streets is finally completed after more than 20 years of waiting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">Neglected for over a hundred years, the house was slated to be demolished in 2000 to make way for the Lancaster Convention Center. But Lancaster preservationists were able to save it and restore its exterior to its 1860s appearance. But after fixing up the outside, the effort was put on hold for a decade as other projects took precedence. Now planning and fundraising are in full swing and t</span><span style="font-family: times;">he multi-million dollar project promises to give the most comprehensive telling of Stevens career and fight for freedom and equality. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In the meantime, the Thaddeus Stevens Society's collection remains in a residential house with only a few people seeing it. Perhaps some of the artifacts will end up at the Lancaster museum or at other locations that tell the Stevens story. But one thing is certain, the Society will continue to collect Stevens items and press for a Thaddeus Stevens mecca that can be visited by all the Stevens pilgrims. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-64981109758563829122022-10-02T08:27:00.006-07:002022-10-03T05:00:28.546-07:00The Great Commoner, Fall 2022, No. 45, www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens Society to meet Sunday, Nov. 6, in Gettysburg</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society will meet on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 1 p.m. at 27 E. Stevens Street in Gettysburg, PA. The meeting will include officer nominations for the next two years, a report on current projects, a view of the Society's collection of Stevens's artifacts and a walking tour of Stevens's sights in Gettysburg.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The meeting will be a potluck lunch, with drinks, spare ribs and potato salad provided. If you plan to attend, please email <a href="mailto:info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com">info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com</a> or call 717-253-0099 and leave your name and whether you will be bringing a side dish. Members and nonmembers are welcomed. People can park in back of 27 E. Stevens Street and on the street.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Man honors Stevens with leg tattoo that mixes Thad with Terminator</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGroTHtG4ztJHPgB2A2C_N37e7WlW3KipbpMf8pSe98iFSGQATcN1abXzKpZbQ2VFAwLTsFz5UZXQye9Bimz9z_hfocOfym8jPCdq8Y2INZcp5eSUkJtWuhoVuRIki_tBuUQcUdOBD0Xre35Ld01XyXqlyrz3-vqJGvoS6J57vM-vJeY2PpZ5trzFl/s4032/Tattoo.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGroTHtG4ztJHPgB2A2C_N37e7WlW3KipbpMf8pSe98iFSGQATcN1abXzKpZbQ2VFAwLTsFz5UZXQye9Bimz9z_hfocOfym8jPCdq8Y2INZcp5eSUkJtWuhoVuRIki_tBuUQcUdOBD0Xre35Ld01XyXqlyrz3-vqJGvoS6J57vM-vJeY2PpZ5trzFl/s320/Tattoo.jpeg" width="240" /></a></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><span><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>There are many admirers of Thaddeus Stevens, but there is only one that we know of who has has honored Thad with a tattoo on his leg. Chris Beiler, who lives in Akron, PA, has been kind enough to write about the tattoo and how he has used it to teach his children about history.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By Chris Beiler</span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>As an admirer of Thaddeus Stevens and a father of two young children, I often stretch the limits </span><span>of my kids’ patience and attention spans when I drag them to historical sites, statue </span><span>dedications, battlefields, and museums. I smile at the idea of my daughter explaining to her first </span><span>grade teacher that we took a trip to a cemetery just to have her picture taken with the tomb of </span><span>a man who died nearly a century and a half before she was born. At any rate, my kids have </span><span>much more exposure to my historical heroes than is probably typical. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>While I hope that these experiences will have a strong impact on my children and on their </span><span>world, I realize that there is a danger of leaving historical figures in the past. I don’t want </span><span>Thaddeus Stevens to be just some guy who did the right thing a long time ago. In the minds of </span><span>my kids, I want him to be someone whose character is a dynamic and inspirational force. </span><span>Someone who has powerful words for issues that are still relevant today. Thad isn’t silent on </span><span>today’s issues—we know what he had to say about wealth inequality and public education and </span><span>attacks on voting rights.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>So in my attempts to bring The Old Commoner to life for my kids, I tell them stories of a </span><span>Thaddeus Stevens: Terminator. He’s a powerful superhero who combines Thad’s obsession for </span><span>justice with robotic superhuman abilities, and an array of tools that will make short work of the </span><span>forces promoting or allowing injustice. I ask my kids about the issues in the world that are </span><span>important to them, and I make up stories of them addressing these issues with the help of a </span><span>cyborg version of my favorite legislator. The stories are over-the-top and far-fetched. I often </span><span>shoehorn explosions and daring escapes into situations that don’t really need them. To be </span><span>frank, these stories aren’t particularly helpful in getting the kids to fall asleep. And it’s true that </span><span>the real Thaddeus Stevens didn’t need lasers or a metallic skeleton, but the end result is my </span><span>kids begging for bedtime stories that involve them working to make the world a more just </span><span>place. What dad wouldn’t make that trade?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>To pay tribute to the real Thad and to bring the Terminator version to life a little bit, I had the </span><span>excellent tattoo artist Alex Zampirri tattoo the fictional version onto me. It’s funny and </span><span>beautiful and a little bizarre, and it’s also started more than a few conversations about the real </span><span>Thaddeus Stevens. Most importantly, it serves as a reminder that although Thad isn’t here </span><span>today to fight for what’s right, we are still inspired and challenged by his example. Long live </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens.</span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsdLUXis1H8x_b45-G7XPg_GUSpmxr8jsqmymjnjYCp5Nu8aEw93ok9O_tcu-QxCjDsSUGX_aflf-LiciMNN2hM0_xAkOMPrhksuXHAD97kLeKR4eNRepf4CoapU-XVc1EY4ECN42pwQLBbScrxKMOOQfaMFhLytCHLvwlG4_APJ5ACNo67cQ9s-t/s2208/chris%20and%20family.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2208" data-original-width="1242" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsdLUXis1H8x_b45-G7XPg_GUSpmxr8jsqmymjnjYCp5Nu8aEw93ok9O_tcu-QxCjDsSUGX_aflf-LiciMNN2hM0_xAkOMPrhksuXHAD97kLeKR4eNRepf4CoapU-XVc1EY4ECN42pwQLBbScrxKMOOQfaMFhLytCHLvwlG4_APJ5ACNo67cQ9s-t/w231-h410/chris%20and%20family.jpeg" width="231" /></a></div><br /> <b>Chris Beiler, Melanie Beiler, and children, Harold and Hannah</b></div><div style="font-family: times;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>How the Thaddeus Stevens's Lancaster house should be restored</i></b></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6ZE6NBF58ndLMSAbnrXMYykj8lAIJx97FkDiRYcU9ngoh0JFg7lFlHbry62lQFxEXqNenqiuQnNe2DsgTnGUXREt4MJGx9Siolnd_9f1X5z2nn15IlR3kQxdwHGZM9vgHMn3WelShDVtnvvXaN9S071xy3b5uzu3m_t-Ztrwqx0rBmhnleRnTKF-/s1600/HouseLancaster.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6ZE6NBF58ndLMSAbnrXMYykj8lAIJx97FkDiRYcU9ngoh0JFg7lFlHbry62lQFxEXqNenqiuQnNe2DsgTnGUXREt4MJGx9Siolnd_9f1X5z2nn15IlR3kQxdwHGZM9vgHMn3WelShDVtnvvXaN9S071xy3b5uzu3m_t-Ztrwqx0rBmhnleRnTKF-/s320/HouseLancaster.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Thaddeus Stevens's house at the corner of Vine and Queen Streets in Lancaster, PA</div><i style="font-size: xx-large;"><br /></i></b></div><div style="font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span>In August 2022, Lancaster Historical Society and its consultant, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, asked for comments on plans for Thaddeus Stevens's house in Lancaster, PA. Stevens Society President Ross Hetrick submitted the following.</span></i></div><div style="font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-35aa8695-7fff-f664-5a05-3ac78f05dd33"><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The life of Thaddeus Stevens presents a unique paradox to American history. While he never rose to any higher position than a member of the House of Representatives, Stevens exercised power that was equivalent to that of the President and he had an impact on the United States that continues to this day. This can be attributed to the absence of southern representation in Congress during and after the Civil War, Steven’s unsurpassed parliamentary abilities and the sheer force of his personality. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the new Stevens biography by Bruce Levine, the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass is quoted as saying this about Stevens: “There was in him the power of conviction, the power of will, the power of knowledge, and the power of conscious ability. . . at last made him more potent in Congress and in the country than even the president and cabinet combined.” When Stevens died in 1868 his fame rivaled that of Lincoln and major newspapers filled their front pages with his passing. He lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, and 20,000 attended his funeral in Lancaster – half of them Black citizens. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But in the decades following his death, Stevens’s fame nearly disappeared. This was partly due to his family and admirers doing very little to promote his memory. The Stevens legacy was also the victim of the “Lost Cause” mythology, which glorified the Confederacy and demonized abolitionists like Stevens. But even as the “Lost Cause” started to fade in the 1970s, Stevens’s importance continued to be obscured as other Civil War and Reconstructions personalities were elevated at historical sites. .</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is why the Thaddeus Stevens Society was created in 1999 to rectify this situation by trying to secure the recognition Stevens deserves. Though there have been significant achievements in the past 22 years, such as the erection of Stevens statues in Lancaster and Gettysburg, he continues to be neglected at places where he should be recognized. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For instance, the National Park Service in recent years has launched a long overdue effort to provide sites connected to Reconstruction. But even though Stevens was a chief architect of Reconstruction, there is no mention of him on the Park Service’s Reconstruction Era website. Similarly, the Park Service’s Gettysburg museum visitors center, opened in 2008, does not mention Stevens despite the fact the destruction of his Caledonia iron works was the largest civilian financial loss of the Gettysburg campaign.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Therefore, the Stevens Society wants to ensure that the proposed museum in Stevens’s house tells the complete and accurate story of his monumental achievements and is not diminished by other historical matters. It appears that information about Lydia Hamilton Smith and the Underground Railroad will occupy a significant portion of the buildings. And while these subjects were important in Stevens’s life, they should be dealt with in their proper proportion to Steven’s life and great achievements.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith was a remarkable woman and was an important part of Stevens’s life, but her accomplishments were not on a scale with Stevens’s. A good comparison of the Stevens-Smith relation is that between President James Buchanan and his niece Harriet Lane, the de-facto first lady during the administration of the bachelor president. She was of immeasurable help to her uncle and worked to have monuments erected to him after his death. Yet, Buchanan and Lane are not treated as equally important at the LancasterHistory’s museum and his Wheatland home.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Underground Railroad was also an important part of Stevens’s anti-slavery activities. But Stevens was one of thousands of participants in the Underground Railroad and if he had not been involved, it would not have made a significant difference. In contrast, Stevens played a crucial role in the legislative process during and after the Civil War and if he had not been involved, events would have turned out very differently.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With this said, we urge that at least half of the new museum be devoted to Stevens’s legislative career, where he had the most impact on United States history. To do otherwise would give a disproportional view of Stevens’s importance and would continue the marginalization of Stevens’s memory. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society is very excited about the prospect of a museum that tells the complete story of his amazing career and we stand ready to help in any way we can. And this advice is given in the spirit of providing another point of view that can be helpful in creating the best possible museum.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>The McPherson house in Gettysburg and the Second Founding</i></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfFfQ2rdZ2L-UkABIbaCif8ay8PM8x4tmV9whEyqfJr-q_7C7RDDlnh3HZjgwIYbPuojiM6eGpG6yGdvpyMQTSeghYtb0fjjLO84ngYfSZirlcAeMIUATKE4XwaRuwluQT7LwnBowTtyxD-8ifLV1RmNX4LFIrKiF0iK27rPpZzGLgOaCqDur8Q3p0/s3680/McPherson3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2760" data-original-width="3680" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfFfQ2rdZ2L-UkABIbaCif8ay8PM8x4tmV9whEyqfJr-q_7C7RDDlnh3HZjgwIYbPuojiM6eGpG6yGdvpyMQTSeghYtb0fjjLO84ngYfSZirlcAeMIUATKE4XwaRuwluQT7LwnBowTtyxD-8ifLV1RmNX4LFIrKiF0iK27rPpZzGLgOaCqDur8Q3p0/s320/McPherson3.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b>The McPherson house in Gettysburg, PA, at 250 Carlisle Street<i style="font-size: xx-large;"><br /></i></b></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">The following letter was sent to Gettysburg College President Robert Iuliano on August 9, 2022 about the historic McPherson house, which is owned by the college and has been vacant for several years. As of October 3, 2022, there has been no reply.</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Dear President Iuliano:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gettysburg College has a special opportunity to create an exhibit to diversity and inclusiveness by using a portion of the McPherson house to celebrate the Second Founding, highlighting the contributions of Edward McPherson, Thaddeus Stevens, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The McPherson house is uniquely suited for this purpose because it was the home of Edward McPherson who was at the birth of the Second Founding. As clerk of the House of Representatives in 1865, McPherson worked with Thaddeus Stevens in excluding ex-Confederates from Congress on December 4, 1865. Without this particular action, the passage of the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution would not have been possible and Reconstruction would not have happened. December 4, 1865 was the birth of the Second Founding and McPherson and Stevens were the figurative midwives.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Second Founding has become an accepted designation for the period when the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were adopted and the United States began the movement towards a more diverse and inclusive society. This historic period has been written about by famed historian Eric Foner in his book, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Second Founding, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia has been promoting the concept for many years.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An exhibit about the Second Founding at the McPherson house could serve as an excellent orientation tool for college students about the foundations of diversity and inclusion. It would also attract national attention, making Gettysburg as important to the Second Founding as Philadelphia is to the first founding. Also, since the project focuses on important current issues, it should make fundraising easier.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Thaddeus Stevens Society stands ready to help Gettysburg College in reaching this very important and worthy goal.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thank you for your consideration,</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ross Hetrick, president</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens Society</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><div style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-be42764b-7fff-ef87-07ad-4693e8d5d299"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p></span></div></span>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-21056010814793201792022-09-20T03:20:00.000-07:002022-09-20T03:20:09.877-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 21<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Preserving Stevens's cemetery -- a national treasure</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">September 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"I repose in this quiet and secluded spot not from any natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries limited as to race by charter rules, I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life. Equality of man before his creator."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">These are the words carved into the tomb of Thaddeus Stevens. He chose to be buried in the small Shreiner-Concord cemetery in Lancaster because it was the only integrated graveyard in the city when he died in 1868. He wanted his final resting place to be a testament to his lifelong fight for equality. Yet, even though it is one of the most inspirational graves in the nation, the cemetery is </span><span style="font-family: times;">not owned by any group or organization and depends on volunteers to be maintained.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">To rectify this sad situation, the Thaddeus Stevens Society has launched an effort to have the cemetery's ownership transferred to some entity and to create an endowment fund so that the graveyard is taken care of indefinitely. It may take years to accomplish, but it absolutely needs to be done.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The cemetery at the intersection of Mulberry and Chestnut Streets in Lancaster is an acre in size and was started by Martin Shreiner, a clockmaker, in 1836. It is filled with some impressive monuments, many more modest tombstones and even an area that is believed to have been reserved for indigent individuals. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Like many family enterprises, by the third generation, Martin Shreiner's descendants decided they had other things to do and they abandoned the cemetery in the mid-twentieth century. Because it is a cemetery, taxes were not assessed and no government agency acquired the property. Since then the graveyard has depended on the kindness of volunteers and this has ebbed and flowed, leaving the cemetery in bad shape in some decades.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Currently the graveyard is being looked after by the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Foundation, a volunteer group, which does a good job of maintaining the property with limited resources. The city of Lancaster also lends a hand by cutting the grass. But these efforts could fade away, as they have in the past.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The cemetery is a historical and inspirational treasure that should be preserved by historical groups as well as local, state and federal agencies. If you would like to be part of the effort to help restructure this cemetery, please contact the Thaddeus Stevens Society at info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-19735540422027232982022-08-08T05:50:00.007-07:002022-08-24T01:34:50.772-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 20<p> <b style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large;"><i>Gettysburg College students should learn about Thaddeus Stevens</i></b></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">August 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Hundreds of first-year students at Gettysburg College trooped from their campus to the Gettysburg National Cemetery on August 25 to hear about Lincoln's immortal address. It would have also been the perfect time for them to hear about Thaddeus Stevens who played a crucial role in the history of the college and the nation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">As a member of the Pennsylvania state house in 1834, Stevens got the fledgling college an $18,000 appropriation to build the college's first building -- Pennsylvania Hall, the college's iconic building. But Stevens's support of the college provoked a political firestorm. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">In reaction, Stevens said: "Let demagogues note it for future use, and send it on the wings of the wind to the ears of every one of my constituents, in matters of this kind, I would rather hear the approving voice of one judicious, intelligent, and enlightened mind, than to be greeted by the loud huzzas of the whole host of ignorance." </span><span style="font-family: times;">This set the tone for the rest of Stevens's life whether it involved promoting education, destroying slavery or supporting women's rights. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">After getting the money, the college had trouble finding property to put it on. Once again, Stevens came to the rescue by providing six acres at a price determined by the board of trustees. In turn, Stevens was put on the board, where he served for the rest of his life. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Then in 1854, the college board shocked Stevens by considering leaving Gettysburg. "If the scheme you refer to be real," Stevens wrote a fellow board member, "it is an attempt to violate an executed contract with the people of Adams County and is atrocious." Stevens attended the next board meeting and browbeat the board into agreeing never to leave Gettysburg.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Besides his service to Gettysburg College, Stevens was also the Savior of Public Education in Pennsylvania, Father of the 14th Amendment and one of the architects of Reconstruction. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Hopefully, either this year or in the future, new students at Gettysburg College will hear about one of the most important persons in their college's history, who was also a national hero.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4278255381177511535.post-70418723362665424352022-07-16T00:31:00.003-07:002022-07-18T07:38:05.453-07:00Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 19<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Thaddeus Stevens -- movie star</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">July 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Ross Hetrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thaddeus Stevens has been the subject of three Hollywood portrayals. Twice as a villain and once as a hero.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens initial movie appearance was more than an hundred years ago in the first epic movie, <i>Birth of a Nation, </i>by legendary filmmaker, D.W. Griffith. The 1915 silent film pioneered such revolutionary film techniques as close ups, rapid cutting montage and tracking shots. But it also championed rank racial bigotry and glorified the Ku Klux Klan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A central character is Austin Stoneman, a thinly veiled caricature of Stevens. He was played as a vengeful congressman intent on punishing white southerners. The movie specifically blamed Stoneman's mixed race housekeeper for influencing him. "A great leader's weakness that is to blight a nation," read one of the movie's title panels.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Despite protests and even riots against the movie, <i>Birth of a Nation </i>proved to be an enormous blockbuster film and is credited with reviving the Ku Klu Klan in the 1920s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The next film Stevens appeared in was in 1942. <i>Tennessee Johnson</i> is an obscure bio picture about the 17th president Andrew Johnson. Van Heflin, a matinee idol of the time, played Johnson and Stevens was played by Lionel Barrymore of the famous acting family.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Once again, Stevens was cast as the villain of the drama. But in this case, word got out before the film was released and Stevens admirers were able to get the Office of War Information -- which was set up during World War II -- to get MGM to make $100,000 worth of changes to soften Stevens's image.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Yet, Stevens still comes across as a fanatic intent on punishing southern whites and the Johnson character accused Stevens of trying to make slaves of whites. "You are a very sincere man, and that's what makes you so dangerous," Johnson said. "You have the sincerity and will and force. You have the drive of a great fanatic." he said </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Stevens's most recent film appearance was 10 years ago in Steven Spielberg's movie, <i>Lincoln. </i>Famed playwright and Stevens admirer, Tony Kushner, wrote the film and gave the congressman a prominent role in the story about the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. Stevens was played by Tommy Lee Jones.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Even though the film was riddled with historic errors and repeated various smears against Stevens, it did capture his absolute dedication to destroying slavery. This was particularly shown in one scene where a fellow congressman rebuked Stevens for shading his position on equality for the sake of passing the amendment. "Is there nothing you won't say," the fictional representative said to Stevens.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"I want the amendment to pass so that the Constitution's first and only mention of slavery is it's absolute prohibition." Stevens said to the fellow legislator. "For this amendment, which I have worked all of my life, for which countless colored men and women have fought and died in the hundreds of thousands of soldiers -- No sir, no there is nearly nothing I won't say."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">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:<a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> </a></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Thaddeus Stevens Societyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15782414443721714389noreply@blogger.com0