The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1868-08-27
Death ofFhaddeus Stevens.

Death ofPhaddeus Stevens.
Thaddeus Stevens, who for several
years past has been identified with
the exciting events Of our country,
legislation, died at midnight on the
llth inst. We condense from 4
sketch Of his life the following:
Thaddcus Stevens was born ia
Caledonia, Vermont, on the 4th Of
April, 1898, seveuty-6ve years ago
His family was poor, aud he was one
We believe the youngest, Of man,
children. From birth he was weak
and sickly in body, but strong ia
mind. Almost his ouly birth rfgh
was a congeRial lameuess, and it /.
uot impossible that his clubfoot, with
the bachelorhood oF which this de-
formity may have been the partia
cause, should have giver him much
OF that saturuine temper and intensi
~ of sarcasm which has always been
bis chiofest power. He grew up to
be the boast of his village school,
fand the scholar of his class iu col
loge; through which he worked his
way, as the best of our American
thinkers aud workers have done, be-
fore aud after him Ho graduated
at Dartmouth College in 1914, aud
Immediately went to Pennsylvania,
then as really the Far West as Kan
sas or Iowa is to-day, aud entered
upon the study of the law, support.
ing himself in the meantime by
teaching an Academy. How Thad-
deus Stevens throye as prcceptor
no Parton has arisen to tell us but
remembering how he soodrgod his
unruly boys in Congress, we pity the
the misbehavine youths Of past gen
GRAFTON who foil under his academic
rule. He was admitted TO the bar
IN 1916, at the age of twenty three
1t may servo as consolation 10
young Office seekers to know that
this world-famous man never held an
olhce until he was forty years old,
being first elected to the Legislature
in 1913. He was re elected IN S34.
1888, 1897 and 1871 and was mem
bereof the Constitutional Convention
OF 1896. 1t was not until 1858, at
the mature age Of tifty-fivc, that he
6rst made his appearance in national
politics as q momber of Congress
from the Lancaster district, in the
Thirty-6rst Congress. He had, how
ever, already woal national repu
tation'as one Of the most radical,
ablcsG aud most uucompromising
Wings Of Pennsylvania La 1850 he
was elected TO the Thirty-secoud
Congress. In Both these Congresses
he was prominent and influential
anti-slavery Wing. ylNa
Mr.. Stevens real political career,
however, IN national and historical
sense, did not commence until his
election to the iiouse of Representa-.
tiyes, iu 1858, by the Republican
party. lie has been a member Of
Congress ever since, serving in the
Thirty sixth, Thirty seventh, Thirty
eighth, Thirty-ninth and Forthieth
Congresses. Each of these Ave Con
crosses is historic. The first was
the Que Immediately preceding the
rebellion, from which Davis, rToombs
and the other southern members
withdrew, like the fallen angels from
Heaven. The Thirty-seventh was
the Congress which initiated all the
great war measur for the suppress
sion Of the rebellion. The Thirty
eighth proposed the constitutional
amendment abolisbing slavery. The
Thirty. ninth proposed the Fourteenth
Amendment, now just declared part
of the Constitution, and passed the
Reconstruction Act, on tho basis of
which seven OF the rebellious States
have already been restored TO the
Union. The Fortieth has consuma-
ed the rstoration of the States to the
Union, and has witnessed the grand
est judicial proceeding in the history
of the government, the impeachment
trial of Andrew johnson. In all
these scenes Mr.. Stevens bore very
prominent part. He was Chairman
Of the Committee Of Ways and Means
10 the Thirty seventh and Thirty.
eighth Congresses, and, when that
committee was divided into three, be.
came chairman Of the Committee on
Appropriations in the Thirty. ninth
and Fortieth Congresses. He was
also chairman of the Committee on
Reconstruction, and in that capacity
has had charge in the House Of the
Civil Rights Bill, the FreedmaG' 5
Bureau Bill, the various Reconstruc-
tiou acts, the Fourteenth Constitu-
tional Amendment, and Of the yari-
Gus other Reconstruction legislation
of Cpngress. l..-... ..7.-...,'.'l'