Thaddeus Stevens : Civil War revolutionary, fighter for racial justice / Bruce Levine.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levine, Bruce C., 1949- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stevens, Thaddeus, 1792-1868.

Stevens, Thaddeus.

Legislators--United States--Biography.

Legislators.

United States. Congress. House--Biography.

United States.

United States--History--1849-1877.

United States. Congress. House.

Genre:

Biographies

History

Biographies.

Physical Description:

309 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Simon & Schuster, 2022.

Summary:

"Thaddeus Stevens was among the first to see the Civil War as an opportunity for a second American revolution--a chance to remake the country as a genuine multiracial democracy. As one of the foremost abolitionists in Congress in the years leading up to the war, he was a leader of the young Republican Party's radical wing, fighting for anti-slavery and anti-racist policies long before party colleagues like Abraham Lincoln endorsed them. These policies--including welcoming black men into the Union's armies--would prove crucial to the Union war effort. During the Reconstruction era that followed, Stevens demanded equal civil and political rights for Black Americans--rights eventually embodied in the 14th and 15th amendments. But while Stevens in many ways pushed his party--and America--towards equality, he also championed ideas too radical for his fellow Congressmen ever to support, such as confiscating large slaveholders' estates and dividing the land among those who had been enslaved. In Thaddeus Stevens, acclaimed historian Bruce Levine has written a "vital" (The Guardian), "compelling" (James McPherson) biography of one of the most visionary statesmen of the 19th century and a forgotten champion for racial justice in America."--Amazon.com viewed April 19, 2022.

Contents:

Introduction: Bringing "the spirit of John Brown" into government

A son of Vermont

A young man's outlook

Resisting slavery's expansion, 1840-1850

From Whig to Republican, 1850-1856

"If this union should be dissolved" : Stevens and the road to war

Steven's Civil War, part I: for victory through emancipation

Steven's Civil War, part II: for black Union troops and nationwide abolition

Steven's Civil War, part III: to rebuild the Union

"In the midst of a revolution": Stevens and postwar Reconstruction

"Perfecting a revolution": the ballot, the land, and impeachment

"Equality of man before his creator."

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1476793387

9781476793382

OCLC:

1259046843