The Great Commoner, Spring 2026, No. 52 www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com

 Upcoming events:

Saturday, April 4, Noon at the Thaddeus Stevens Museum Annex, 52 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA – Thaddeus Stevens’s 234th birthday will be celebrated with a potluck picnic. The Society will provide hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks and birthday cake. Attendees are invited to bring side dishes to share. There will also be entertainment by members of the Christ Lutheran Church in Gettysburg where Stevens was a major supporter. The event is free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, please call 717-347-8159 or email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com

Friday, April 10, 4:30 pm at the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery, Mulberry and Chestnut Streets, Lancaster, PA – The annual graveside ceremony at Thaddeus Stevens’s grave. It will be followed at 6 pm by the Stevens Day day dinner and Society membership meeting at the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, 750 E. King Street, Lancaster, PA. The dinner is free to members. If you plan to attend, please call 717-347-8159 or email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com

Friday and Saturday, May 1 and May 2 at the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy at the corner of Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster, PA – The long awaited Stevens/Smith museum will have a ribbon cutting at  9 am on May 1. Then at 1 pm the Society will have a special awards ceremony at the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery at the corner of Mulberry and Chestnut Streets. Then on Saturday, May 2, there will be a block party on Vine Street beside the museum celebrating the opening. More information is in another article by Robin Sarratt. If you plan to attend these events, please contact the Society at 717-347-8159 or info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com for additional information.

Stevens/Smith museum to open in May

By Robin Sarratt, President and CEO of Lancaster History

        Since June 2019, LancasterHistory has been preparing to create a major new museum honoring the legacy of one of America’s most influential members of Congress, Thaddeus Stevens, while also illuminating the remarkable life of his housekeeper and trusted confidante of 25 years, Lydia Hamilton Smith, and the powerful network of abolitionists with whom they worked to advance freedom, justice, and equality.

        Now, LancasterHistory is proud to announce the grand opening of the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy, taking place May 1–2, 2026. 

    The opening weekend begins Friday morning, May 1, at 9 am with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by complimentary museum tours for all who contributed to the capital campaign that made the Center possible. The celebration continues Friday evening with a ticketed gala in the new and expanded Commons on Vine at the Lancaster County Convention Center, located directly adjacent to the Stevens & Smith Center. 

    On Saturday, May 2, from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m., the entire community is invited to join a free Community Celebration as East Vine Street—between Duke and Queen Streets—closes for the festivities. The afternoon will feature music, art, history-themed vendors, food and beverage trucks, family-friendly activities, and much more. Museum admission will again be free on Saturday, though advance registration for timed-entry tickets is strongly encouraged. Tickets for opening weekend and future visits will be available beginning in March. Visit stevensandsmithcenter.org for more information.

Youngest lifetime member joins Stevens Society

Thaddeus Richard Barry

The plaque Thaddeus will receive for being a gold lifetime member, courtesy of his parents.

By Jillian Gaeta, Thaddeus's mother

        Throughout my life, I have always been asked, "What is the story of your name? Why did your parents pick Jillian. While my parents were incredibly thoughtful, the answer to that question was simple: they liked the name Jillian. They thought it was pretty.

        As a history teacher of nearly twenty years, I value a good story. I believe that stories have the power to change us -- to change society and to change the way we think. So when I was considering a name for my son, I wanted him to have a meaningful story when someone inevitably asks, "Why did your parents name you Thaddeus?"

        Raising a boy in 2026, I wanted him to carry the name of a man he could look up to and admire -- a man with strong values, honorable character, and historical significance. As my husband and I considered names, John seemed too common. While I love a Kennedy, there were too many affairs and mob connections. Martin, Malcolm and Abraham felt too obvious and attention-grabbing. My husband even suggested Kermit, in honor of Teddy Roosevelt's son, who loved to explore, but the problem there is that it is also the name of the famous frog.

        Now that my son is here, "Why Thaddeus?" people ask. Here is what I tell them:

        Thaddeus Stevens was a congressman in the 1800s who believed deeply in equality. He pushed Abraham Lincoln not only to end the Civil War but to end slavery itself. After Lincoln's death, Stevens was instrumental in ensuring the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment and in advocating for voting rights for African Americans. Stevens and Frederick Douglass were some of the first national leaders to call for reparations. Without his leadership during Reconstruction, equality under the law for formerly enslaved people would not have been codified in the Constitution. Stevens pushed boundaries; he was radical, and he challenged the status quo. He also had passion and a sense of humor.

        I love sharing this story because aside from my friends who teach history, most people have never heard of Stevens. It is not uncommon for them to be unfamiliar with him. According to a study conducted in 2018 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, only 7 percent of American high school seniors could identify slavery as the central cause of the Civil War. Reconstruction remains one of the least-taught periods in American history in classrooms across the country.

        The legacy of the Fourteenth Amendment remains as vital as ever. Historian Eric Foner describes Reconstruction as a "Second Founding," arguing that it fundamentally transformed the Constitution by embedding the principle of equal rights for Americans. Before the Civil War, that ideal did not exist in Constitutional law. The 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision declared that no Black person could be a citizen of the United States. Reconstruction sought to shatter those racial boundaries and redefine American citizenship itself.

        In many ways, based on Foner's scholarship, Thaddeus Stevens can be understood as one of the nation's founders -- not of 1776, but of this Second Founding. I could not think of a better person to name my son after.

        Like any parent, I have hopes for my child. I hope that when he tells the story of his name, it sounds different from the way I tell it today. I hope the Fourteenth Amendment is protected and that equality under the law expands even further in both the Constitution and our lived reality. I hope more people understand why our country fought a war over slavery and recognize both the achievements of Reconstruction and the unfinished work of Stevens, Douglass, Lincoln and countless abolitionists.

        Most of all, I hope that in my son's lifetime Stevens's dream is realized -- that equality is not only codified into the law but fully actualized in American life. When someone asks my son, "Why did your parents pick your name?" he will have a powerful story to tell and I hope that people recognize its history and they are living in a healed America far beyond what Thaddeus Stevens could have ever imagined. 

Thaddeus Stevens documentary envisioned

                   By Tom Wiggin, filmaker

        Exactly twelve years ago, I performed a one man show at the Ware Center called Remarkable Radical: The Life and Times of Thaddeus Stevens. I was grateful for the favorable reception from Society President Ross Hetrick and many of you in the Thaddeus Stevens Society.

        As a result of that piece, I was invited last year to record the voice of The Great Commoner for numerous installations in the new Stevens and Smith Center for History and Democracy opening in May.

        Revisiting his words and ideas inspired my wife Jennifer and me to explore making a documentary on Stevens’s life. We intend to make a film that, like the stage show, packs an emotional punch as well as a historical one. Connecting the head and the heart is the best way to impress upon people the extraordinary legacy of this great patriot that so few know.

        But this is a complex endeavor. Last year our production company Atomic Focus Entertainment (www.atomic-focus.com) released our first feature documentary Banned Together which won best feature documentary at the Red Rose Film Festival. We know from experience that it takes a committed effort, that starts with fundraising.

        I’ve discussed this with Society President Ross Hetrick and will bring him on as a consultant for the film. I also know that everyone is looking to raise funds, including your society. But, if you know of any folks or larger organizations who might be interested in supporting this film, please pass them along to us via Ross. The tentative title for the documentary is "Where Have You Gone, Thaddeus Stevens?" In this day and age especially, that question needs to be asked – and answered.

A great friend to the Society dies

Michael Charney and wife, C.J Prentiss at statue dedication. Sculptor Alex Loza in background

    The Thaddeus Stevens Society has lost a very dear friend, Michael Charney, who died on January 2 of a heart attack at the age of 75. The retired Ohio teacher and union official was a great admirer of Stevens and stepped up and provided $39,500 of the $55,000 cost of the Stevens statue in Gettysburg and then provided more money for the creation of a graphic novel about Stevens.

        As Scott Stephens wrote in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Charney devoted the majority of his 75 years to changing the lives of others, Through thousands of classroom lessons, impassioned union hall speeches and testimony in the Ohio Statehouse, Charney spent most of his waking hours making a difference.”

        He grew up in Massachusetts and then became a teacher in Cleveland, OH in the 1970s. In 1981 he married C.J. Prentiss, who would become the minority leader in the Ohio Senate. She died on April 2, 2024. 

        Michael served on the Executive Board of the Cleveland Teachers Union for more than a decade and edited the Critique and Ohio Teacher. He co-founded the Policy Matters Ohio think tank and was heavily involved with the Zinn Education Project. 

        He would take every opportunity he could to talk about Reconstruction and Thaddeus Stevens. He named his dog Thaddeus Stevens so that when people asked what his name was, Michael could launch into telling them about Stevens and his devotion to equality and education.            

        Michael was the main speaker at the dedication of the Stevens statue on April 2, 2022. In that speech he said Stevens  “was someone who had principled conviction all of his life against white supremacy and slavery, making sure there was equality in this nation.” That speech can be seen at this link:

https://youtu.be/dRBAS-xB_10?si=61WUcRfKWSp1USvy

The long winding road to the Lancaster museum

        The trail towards the new Lancaster museum started in 2000 when what was left of Stevens’s house was threatened with being demolished to make way for the Lancaster Convention Center. But fortunately, the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster had an historic easement on the structure and the group was able to save the house and the convention center was built around it. That was when the Trust decided to pair Stevens with his housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith, to appeal to a broader audience. 

        The Trust then set about restoring the front of the house to its 1860 appearance, which was accomplished by 2009. But the effort was so expensive that it critically affected the trust’s finances and it was forced to hand off the project to another group, LancasterHistory. However, that group had just finished its new museum and would not be able to mount another fundraising effort until 2020. This effort was further delayed because of the Covid pandemic.

        While all this was going on, the Thaddeus Stevens Society was steadily collecting artifacts and with the help of its membership, the Society was able to open a Stevens museum in Gettysburg in 2024. Another storefront next to the museum was added in 2025.

Perhaps the next effort will be to have a Stevens exhibit in his home state of Vermont. Are there any takers?

Stevens's cemetery gets tax deductible designation

        A major milestone has been achieved in the restructuring of the cemetery where Thaddeus Stevens is buried. The Shreiner-Concord Cemetery Association, Inc. in February received the designation of a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, which allows donors to deduct their contributions. This was absolutely necessary to begin the process of taking possession of the cemetery. The Shreiner-Concord Cemetery has not had an owner since the mid-1900s when the original owners abandoned it. The next steps are to raise an endowment of $25,000 required by state law and then take ownership through a court action. If you’d like to help in this effort, please contact the Thaddeus Stevens Society at 717-34-8159 or info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com

Leave a legacy for Thad

    Support Thaddeus Stevens's legacy by leaving a legacy of your own. If you wish to include the Thaddeus Stevens Society in your will, please let us know by calling 717-347-8159 or email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com Thank you.

        

        

        

    

        

        

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 62

 The Story of Lydia Hamilton Smith

February 2026

By Ross Hetrick

Lydia Hamilton Smith would have remained an obscure historical figure except that enemies of Thaddeus Stevens used her to try to discredit him. 

As a lifelong bachelor Stevens employed housekeepers in both Gettysburg and Lancaster. Smith was Stevens's last housekeeper, working for him from either 1844 or 1848 until his death in 1868. By all accounts, Smith was an excellent housekeeper who also served as his nurse as was common in those days. She was a savvy businesswoman and assisted Stevens in some of his endeavors.  After his death, Smith parlayed the $5,000 left to her in his will into a successful boarding house in Washington, D.C. She would have led an accomplished if not notable life except that she worked for a famous abolitionist and was one-quarter Black.

Stevens's enemies, who were legion, jumped on this combination and loudly proclaimed that Smith was his mistress and that she had misled him into his antislavery beliefs. Of course this ignored the fact that Stevens had started his crusade against slavery 20 years before employing Smith.

Stevens generally ignored these attacks. But in a 1867 letter to a political colleague, he wrote an ambiguous reply that didn't directly contradict the allegation, but did say the accusation was "totally without foundation."

Smith, a devout Roman Catholic who was proud of her good reputation, took a more direct approach and confronted editors of the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, a longtime Stevens opposition newspaper. This is documented in a February 3, 1866 edition of the paper which recounts a visit by Smith. A very condescending article entitled, "A Distinguished Visitor," reports Smith telling a group of editors she was not Stevens's "idol" and white people she knew would vouch for her good character. After a contentious conversation in which the editors said she should have sent the white people, Smith said, "If -if ever - if ever my name appears in your paper again - I will - cowhide the editor." [italics was in original article]

The slur that Smith was Stevens's mistress faded after their deaths and was not included in early Stevens biographies. But in 1905 the best-selling novel, The Clansman, by Thomas Dixon, Jr., revived the charge. In that book the character Austin Stoneman, based on Stevens, has a housekeeper called Lydia Brown. She is described this way:  "No more curious or sinister figure ever cast a shadow across the history of a great nation than did this mulatto woman in the most corrupt hour of American life. The grim old man who looked into her sleek tawny face and followed her catlike eyes was steadily gripping the Nation by the throat. Did he aim to make this woman the arbiter of its social life, and her ethics the limit of its moral laws?"

The bigoted novel was made into a play and then into one of the most famous silent movies, The Birth of a Nation, released in 1915. In a scene where the character based on Stevens gets affectionate with his housekeeper, a title card appears: "The great leader's weakness that is to blight a nation." This condemnation has left a long-lasting impression on the perceived relationship between Stevens and Smith. It was reprised in the 2012 film Lincoln, where the Stevens character is in bed with Smith and the freshly approved 13th Amendment. This scene is particularly confusing because it does not identify the woman as his housekeeper and many moviegoers think she is his wife.

In the end, people can either believe Stevens and Smith or believe their enemies. Speculation about the relationship serves not only to titillate the public and perpetuate racist sentiments, but also to besmirch the character of a woman whose life and work and contributions would otherwise be commended.

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which operates the Thaddeus Stevens Museum at 46 Chambersburg St. in Gettysburg, PA. Rosalie Moore, secretary of the Society, contributed to this column. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the Society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/ 

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 61

 Thaddeus Stevens may have pioneered early insanity plea in Adams County

January 2026

By Bradley R. Hoch

Newly discovered documents show that one of the earliest successful insanity pleas was in Adams County, and it may have been presented by Thaddeus Stevens.

In some biographies, Stevens has been incorrectly credited with presenting an unsuccessful insanity plea in the James Hunter case of 1817. But now it turns out there was a successful local insanity case in 1841, predating more famous cases in America and England.

Thaddeus Stevens was ahead of his time when it came to murder cases and capital punishment. In the Hunter case he defended a prisoner who had approached an unarmed man from behind and sliced his neck. Stevens sought a verdict of second degree murder, a verdict that did not carry the death penalty in Pennsylvania. The jury disagreed and the prisoner was hanged.

In 1831 in Commonwealth vs. Taylor, Murder, Stevens gained acquittal for his client by convincing the jury that the gun discharged by accident. And when the county's prosecutor sought to retry the man under a new charge of Involuntary Manslaughter, Stevens succeeded in having the State Supreme Court stop the proceedings as a violation of the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. In 1835 in a State House floor debate, he spoke against capital punishment. In the 1839 case Commonwealth vs. Weaver, Stevens won acquittal for bartender Jacob Weaver by claiming self-defense. And in 1842, he co-authored a Pennsylvania House of Representatives' committee minority report that argued against capital punishment.

Did Stevens also use a "not guilty by reason of insanity" plea in 1841 to gain acquittal for a client? If so, it would have been one of the earliest, successful uses of the insanity plea in the United States.

"UNFORTUNATE OCCURRENCE," reported Gettysburg Compiler on November 2, 1840. "On Friday evening last, a man named Jacob Robenstein was killed by another of unsound mind, named Isaac Musselman -- both of Hamiltonban township [Adams County, PA] -- The deceased was struck on the back of the neck with the edge of an axe and lived but a short time after receiving the wound."

On October 31, One day after the murder, Daniel Musselman testified at a preliminary hearing as a witness to the assault and murder. Justice of the Peace Andrew Marshall issued a warrant for arrest, and the sheriff committed Isaac Musselman to Adams County prison that same day.

The November 23rd, 1840 official inquest of the court of General Quarter Sessions of Adams County provides more information: Musselman, "not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil," held an axe valued at one dollar in both hands and assaulted Jacob Robenstein.

Twenty-nine-year-old Dr. John King McCurdy, a graduate of a Baltimore medical school, had opened his practice in Fairfield, PA, in 1835. He had examined the corpse and testified at the inquest. Mortal blows were described: there was one at the top of the head, four inches long and one inch deep; another was at the back of the head, three inches long and one inch deep; and a third was on the front of the head, one inch long and one inch deep. Rubenstein had died within half an hour.

The trial, Commonwealth vs. Issac Musselman, Murder, was held on January 27, 1841, in the Adams County Courthouse that was located in the center of Gettysburg's diamond (now known as the square). Musselman pled "Not Guilty." District attorney Moses McClean prosecuted the case. As was the custom in criminal cases, the defendant's attorney was not named in court records. Witnesses were Daniel Musselman, Joseph Musselman and Dr. John K. McCurdy.

Court records report that the jury: "On their oaths and affirmations, respectfully do say that the Defendant is not guilty, and the Jury further find that the said Defendant was insane in the time of the commission of the offense charged, and that he was acquitted by the Jury on the ground of such insanity ----"

The document continues: "Whereupon the court order[s] that the Defendant be kept in strict custody in the debtors apartment of the Jail [of] Adams County so long as said Defendant shall continue to be of insane mind, John Musselman having stipulated in open court to defray the expenses of his maintenance during said period." In other words, Isaac Musselman's father pledged that he would pay the costs of feeding and caring for his son in prison.

Isaac Musselman had been in the Adams County jail for almost nine years, when, at about 3 am on the morning of January 7, 1850, a fire began in his room. The entire structure was quickly engulfed by flames. Efforts were made to rescue Musselman, but the fire was too intense. Portions of his charred body were later recovered and buried in St. James cemetery. During the blaze, the body of another insane inmate, who had been housed in a different room, was dragged from the fire. Unfortunately, he was already dead from smoke inhalation. The jailor and his family who lived at the jail escaped with their lives and the jail's official papers. Only the building's blackened walls remained. A new jail was built on the site in 1851. Construction was overseen by Adams County commissioners, one of whom was Isaac's brother, John Musselman Jr.

Court case Commonwealth vs. Isaac Musselman is an early example of a legal system in transition. Consideration of the mental state of a defendant has a long history, going back at least into the 1200s. A successful use of the "not guilty by reason of insanity" plea in Great Britain occurred in the trial of James Hadfield in 1800. The 1843 M'Naghten trial, another British case, resulted in guidelines for insanity pleas. In the United States, a successful, early use of the plea occurred in People v. Freeman in 1847, when William H. Seward -- who became Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln -- acted for the defense in New York. 

The Musselman case pre-dates the use of the "not guilty by reason of insanity" plea in the more famous New York case by 6 years. It predates the early guidelines for an insanity defense, the M'Naghten Test by two years.

Who was the Gettysburg attorney who used this defense in 1841? Without documentation, this can only be surmised. What evidence exists that it might have been Thaddeus Stevens? Stevens was the preeminent trial attorney in Gettysburg at the time and was practicing law in Gettysburg in late 1840 and early 1841. Stevens' civil cases of this era are well documented: in November Term 1840-41, he was actively participating in a series of civil cases and a criminal case known as Commonwealth vs. Hutter and Cantine. He might also have been one of the few lawyers in Gettysburg who had knowledge gained by discussion with other attorneys in the state legislature of the seminal, several-hundred-page work written by Isaac Ray, A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity, published in 1838 -- two years before Commonwealth vs. Isaac Musselman.

Not to be overlooked, Stevens was a friend of John Musselman (1783-1852), the father of Isaac Musselman. Stevens and Musselman had known each other surely as early as 1834 when both were candidates on the Anti-Masonic Party's ticket for local election -- Stevens for county representative to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Musselman for Adams County Commissioner (his name was on a number of different party tickets). Why would Musselman not ask his friend to represent his son Isaac in 1840-41?

And finally, there were his known, demonstrated, anti-capital punishment views. Thaddeus Stevens was the obvious choice to defend Isaac Musselman. 

Bradley R. Hoch is the author of Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg, the Making of an Abolitionist and books about Abraham Lincoln. He is the founder of Gettysburg Pediatrics and is a member of the Thaddeus Stevens Society. He has made valuable contributions to the Society's research library.

Notes:

1. Adams Centinel (Gettysburg, PA). Letter to the editor, "James Hunter." December 3, 1817.

2. Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, PA). November 2, 1840. page 3

3. Background and History of the Insanity Defense. Samuel Strom, J.D. 2023. https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-procedure/the-insanity-defense-history-and background.html

4. Compiler (Gettysburg, PA). January 14, 1850. page 2

5. Compiler (Gettysburg, PA). January 23, 1900, page 5

6. History of Adams County, Pennsylvania. 1886. Reprint, Gettysburg, PA; Adams County Historical Society, 1992. Biographical sketches, Joseph Musselman; information regarding the children of John Musselman, page 444.

7. Minority Report. Journal of the Fifty-Second House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Vol. 2. Harrisburg; Hemlock and Bratton, 1842, page 195.

8. Obituary, John King McCurdy. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195256356/john-king-mccurdy

9. Official Inquest of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of Adams County. November 23, 1840. Thaddeus Stevens Society.

10. Sessions Docket D. 1823-1833, Page 29, no. 8. Commonwealth v. Joseph Taylor, Thaddeus Stevens Society.

11. Sessions Docket E. 1833-1841. Page 319, no 11. Commonwealth v. Isaac Musselman. Thaddeus Stevens Society.

12. Star and Republican Banner (Gettysburg, PA). September 9, 1834, page 3.

13. Star and Republican Banner (Gettysburg, PA). November 3, 1840, page 3.

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 60

Why support the Thaddeus Stevens Society?

December 2025

By Ross Hetrick

The Thaddeus Stevens Society needs support so that it can continue to tell the story of how a dedicated group of politicians, lead by Stevens, changed the United States for the better.

Like it does every year, the Society in January will have a membership drive and we hope to increase our numbers from over 300 to more than 500. You can join by going to this web page: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/become-a-member-1 

You should join if you want to ensure that Thaddeus Stevens gets the recognition he deserves for creating a more equitable and fair America. For most of the 20th century there was no organization to promote Stevens's memory. There were no statues nor museums in his honor. Now, through the efforts of the Society and other organizations, there are statues in Gettysburg and Lancaster, a museum in Gettysburg and one slated to open in Lancaster in May 2026. But this could fade away if the Society does not continue to gain support.

Founded in 1999, the Thaddeus Stevens Society is the only organization exclusively dedicated to promoting the legacy of Stevens. While other historic groups provide information about Stevens, their priorities may change in the future. The Thaddeus Stevens Society will steadfastly preserve and promote Stevens legacy.

During the November Giving Spree in Gettysburg, the Society received about $10,000, pushing its  endowment fund held by the Adams County Community Foundation to  $43,000. This fund will ensure that the museum in Gettysburg will be supported into the distant future. But the Society also needs immediate funds to support its current activities.

The proponents of the Confederates, who fought to preserve slavery, were very successful during the 20th century in promoting their version of history. And while their efforts have been blunted in recent years, they have not given up. Organizations such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Abbeville Institute continue their campaign to glorify the Confederacy and downplay the evil of slavery. Even the Virginia home of Confederate general Jubal Early, who ordered the destruction of Stevens's Caledonia iron mill, is preserved by an organization that has $1.6 million in assets.

This strong support for slavery and weak support for people like Thaddeus Stevens dates back before the Civil War and Stevens commented on it in a speech in 1850, where he praised southern congressmen for their united support of slavery.

"I honor her courage and fidelity," Stevens said.  "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 accuser. She is the victim of low ambition -- an ambition which prefers self to country, personal aggrandizement to the high cause of human liberty. She is offered up as a sacrifice to propitiate southern tyranny -- to conciliate southern treason."

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which operates the Thaddeus Stevens Museum at 46 Chambersburg St. in Gettysburg, PA. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/

 

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 59

 What if Thaddeus Stevens had failed on December 4, 1865?

November 2025

By Ross Hetrick

December 4, 1865 was a pivotal day in American history when Thaddeus Stevens, with the help of Edward McPherson of Gettysburg, prevented ex-Confederates from taking over Congress. But what would have happened to the United States over the next 160 years if Stevens had failed on that critical day?

This important day in American history will be commemorated on Thursday, December 4, at 6 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, 30 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg. The free program will include the showing of a video about December 4, 1865 and a one-man show by Ross Hetrick portraying Thaddeus Stevens.

While few people know what happened on that fateful day, the barring of ex-Confederates from Congress set the stage for the enactment of the 14th and 15th Amendments, the granting of political rights to African Americans and the military occupation of the south.  But there were ominous signs that events could have gone in a dramatically different way. 

The biggest harbinger of disaster came in April 1865 when  Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Vice President Andrew Johnson, a southern Democrat, took over. While Johnson had been against secession, he was ambivalent about slavery and shortly after becoming president, Johnson started pardoning ex-Confederates wholesale and allowed the former Confederate states to hold congressional elections and they elected former Confederate military and government officials.

Johnson and northern Democrats wanted them to take their seat and seize power from the Republicans. These men did their best to force ex-Confederates into the 39th Congress, but McPherson, who was clerk of the House, stood his ground and did not recognize the southerners and Stevens backed him by using his legendary parliamentary skills,  If McPherson and Stevens had failed, the United States would have returned to a condition very similar to the way it was before the Civil War.

White supremacist governments would have retained control in the south and there would have been nothing to prevent them from implementing laws called the Black codes, which returned African Americans to a state of servitude on a par with slavery. These laws may have continued for generations. 

The freed slaves would have been barred from voting and would fear for their lives if they dared to exercise their freedom. Without the establishment of multiracial governments during Reconstruction, there would have been no public schools or other government agencies. And the14th and 15th Amendments would be nonexistent, eliminating the bulwarks of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

In short, the south would have reverted back to having a small rich aristocratic elite at the top, most of the whites in grinding poverty and more than a third of its population in a new form of bondage.  

Thaddeus Stevens knew that the United States was at a turning point on December 4, 1865 and the opportunity should not be lost. He would later comment on this as the Congress grappled with the 14th Amendment and Reconstruction.

"I believe there is entrusted to this Congress a high duty, no less important and no less fraught with the weal or woe of future ages than was entrusted to the august body that made the Declaration of Independence," Stevens said on January 31, 1866. "I believe now, if we omit to exercise that high duty, or abuse it, we shall be held to account by future generations of America, and by the whole civilized world that is in favor of freedom."

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which operates the Thaddeus Stevens Museum at 46 Chambersburg St. in Gettysburg, PA. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/

Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 58

 Thaddeus Stevens: newspaper publisher

October 2025

By Ross Hetrick

Thaddeus Stevens was many things: super lawyer, ground breaking politician, ironmaster, real estate speculator and railroad developer. But his role as newspaper publisher is often overlooked though it was one of his most public roles. 

Stevens first newspaper venture was the Anti-Masonic Star, which published its first edition on April 17, 1830. The paper was launched to support the Anti-Masonic party in Adams county, of which Stevens was a prominent member. It was common in those days for newspapers to be organs for specific political parties. 

The Anti-Masonic party was  the first successful third party in American history and was born out of an incident in upstate New York in 1826 where William Morgan was allegedly killed by the Masons for threatening to reveal their secrets. Coupled with the widespread impression that the Masons had an undue influence in politics, the party spread quickly in the northeast including Pennsylvania. It was particularly popular in Adams county and Stevens was a member when he was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1834. By that year the newspaper had changed its name to The Gettysburg  Star & Republican Banner.

While Stevens was faithful to most of the positions of the party, Stevens did not hesitate to break with them on an issue dear to his heart -- education. Immediately after taking his seat in the legislature, Stevens was successful in getting an $18,000 grant for Gettysburg College, then called Pennsylvania College, to build its first building -- Pennsylvania Hall, which still stands at the heart of the college campus,  

But Stevens's success in gaining the appropriation was greeted with outrage by fellow members of the Anti-Masonic party. Stevens answered his critics in the January 21, 1834 edition of his newspaper, which is on display at the Thaddeus Stevens museum in Gettysburg. The newspaper was donated to the museum by Bradley R. Hoch, author of Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg: The Making of an Abolitionist. 

"I would sooner lose every friend on earth, than violate the clearest dictates of my own conscience -- the clearest commands of my Official Oath," Stevens said in the letter to his critics. He went on to say that he was prepared to leave the Anti-Masonic party over this issue. "I have already resolved that the weight of my name shall never again burthen your ticket," he wrote, though he remained in the party as long as he was in Gettysburg. He ended the letter with a touch of humor: "Gentlemen, with great respect, I subscribe myself your Faithful, if not Obedient Servant, Thaddeus Stevens."

Stevens's next newspaper venture was in 1851 after he had moved to Lancaster and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. By then, the Anti-Masonic party had gone out of business and Stevens was a Whig. Appropriately enough, he and other investors started the Independent Whig, another party organ. Almost immediately after starting the paper, Stevens sent a letter to his longtime protege Edward McPherson in Gettysburg offering him the job of editor.

McPherson would work at the paper for three years and then go on to be a congressman from Gettysburg from 1859 to 1863. Yet, it was as clerk of the House of Representatives, another position that Stevens got for him, that he would play his most important role in American history. Working with Stevens on December 4, 1865. McPherson prevented ex-Confederates from taking over Congress, thus preventing the country from returning to pre-war conditions, complete with a new form of slavery. 

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which operates the Thaddeus Stevens Museum at 46 Chambersburg St. in Gettysburg, PA. The Society also participates in the Adams County Giving Spree, which will be held on November 6. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/

A Tribute To The Memory Of The Hon. Thaddeus Stevens by Delphine P. Baker, August 13, 1868

 Move slow, O Time! while yet in grief we wait

Within the sacred shades of honored state! --

Beneath the presence -- e'er on earth sublime --

Where angels watching o'er

                                        Relentless Time!

Sweep slowly now! Aye, let it be.

Thy light upon his blessed memory.

At home, abroad, in other lands of fame,

Will scintillate in halos round HIS name

Thou "Champion of the Right," The nation feels

Thy loss, and doth deplore -- while Friendship kneels

In sorrow at thy side -- the light that's fled

Since thou, true leader just, art with the dead!

pure was thy life. The deep, unselfish love,

Descending on thy soul from the Above,

Speaks in thy words and deed of liberty, 

Of equal rights, of great humanity,

Till every thought reveals th' exalted mind

Which heaven and earth in on grand chain would bind.

Aye! universal God-like Freedom, thou

Mayst weep in anguish o'er that noble brow; 

For thou wilt miss him more than all the train

Of kindred virtues that on earth remain.

For thou bright star, wert rising in his might.

He strengthened thee to wend thy way in light.

Yet other veteran sires will strike the bars,

Till thou shalt trace thy course amid the stars.