Making No Distinctions Between Rich and Poor: Thaddeus Stevens and Class Equality

Abstract

He was beloved by former slaves who viewed him as champion of their cause for freedom and equal rights. The South despised him as the instigator of the radical Reconstruction policies that plagued the region for more than a decade; Southern author Thomas Dixon even based his character Austin Stoneman on him in his work, The Clansman, which became the basis for D.W. Griffith's infamous film Birth of a Nation in 1915. During the Civil War and Reconstruction eras of U.S. history, few men garnered as much power in Congress as Pennsylvania Republican Thaddeus Stevens. He was instrumental in mat-ters such as financing the war, bringing the infant Republican Party to dominance in national politics, prosecuting Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial in 1868, and fashioning many pieces of civil rights legislation that helped African Americans commence their new freedom with the support of the federal government.