The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-08-20
r iHs From "Men of Our Day."
HON. THADDEUS STEVENS.

eminent political leader who has,
either in local or general politics,
maintained a position for years in
the forefront of the hottest BATTLE"
identified with the unpopular, as well
as the popular measures of his par
ty, and then withdraws for a series
of years from political life, ever re-
gains his old prestige and influence.
Mr.. Stevens is, however, an ex-
ception to this, as to most general
rules. His early political triumphs
were won in the prime and flush of
manhood; and he was then regarded
as the political Warwick of the State
of his adoption. For ten of the best
years of his life. he eschewed poll
tics, and aside from sitting in Con-
gress, when he was in a minority for
two terms, he took no position of
leadership until the close of 1859,
when he was again a member of the
House of Representatives, and, tho
approaching at that time the three
score years and ten, usually censid
cred the limit Of human life, and an
almost constant sufferer from Or
ganic disease, he has been, for nine
years past, the acknowledged leader
of the Republican party in the
House, and though at times, there
have been signs of refractoryness
among a few of his followers, he has
invariably succeeded in bringing
them into a state of subjection.
Thaddeus Stevens was born in
Peacham, Caledonia county, Yer
mont, April 4th, 1892 The family
were poor, and Thaddeus, when
child, was sickly and lame. His
mother, however, believed in the
abilities and future eminence Of her
feeble boy, and toiled with all her
strength, yes, and beyond her
strength, as many another New Eng
land mother has done, to secure for
him the opportunity of acquiring an
education. The boy was ambitious
and full of high resolves, but SO
sensitive; and when his schoolfel-
lows (schoolboys will be so cruel)
laughed at him, and mimicked his
limping walk, their ridicule ranked
in his heart, and brought tears to
his eyes. Who knows: The stern,
hard man, whose sharp, bitter words
lash so pitilessly the political often
der, may owe something of his Sc
verify to the cruel experiences of
those years Of childhood.
"Where there is a will, there is a
way" says the old proverb, and the
poor lame boy Of northern Vermont
proved it, for, at the age of eigh-
teen, he managed to qualify himself
to enter Dartmouth college, where
he graduated with honor, in.1S14,
and the same year removed to Penn
sy1vania, and commenced the study
of law, teaching in an academy at
the same time to support himself.
He was admitted to the bar, in
Adams county, Pennsylvania, inlS-
16, and soon attained good prac-
tice. At first he devoted himself to
his profession, to the exclusion of
politics, which, indeed, had, for
some years, little interest for an am
bilious and enterprising man. The
election of John Quincy Adams to
the Presidency, and the bitter con-
tests which followed, the triumph of
the Democrats, in the election of
General jackson, in 1928, and his
decided action, reused the political
fervor of Stevens, who was at that
time a rising and well known law
yer in his section. He threw him
self into the contest with all the zeal
and ardor Of his nature. He took
sides with the Adams party, and
when that party merged in the Whig
party, he was Wing of the Wings.
But, for some years, he preferred not
to be candidate for any Office. In
1888, however, he consented to run
for the Legislature, and was elected
by large majority, as he was also,
in 1884, 1885, 1887 aud 1S41. In
1886, he was a member of the Con-
ventlon to make new Constitution !;
but being then, as always since, hos
tile to slavery, he refused to sign the
document, because it restricted suff-
rage on account of color. When
this Constitution was adopted, he
was chosen to the legislature that
followed This was a time of in
tense political excitement. Mr.. Van
Buren was elected as Gen. Jackson's S
successor, and Pennsylvania, which
had been for some years Wing, was
revolutionized the following year,
and David r. Porter-a Demo ocrat-
was elected Governor in place of
Governor Joseph Ritner, who had
been the chief magistrate for four
years previous. The two parties
talked loudly, and both threatened
violence. Governor Ritner was so
much alarmed that he called upon
Congress for United States troops
to put down an insurrection which
| he deemed imminent. The alarm
proved unnecessary. Gov. Porter
was quietly inaugurated, and though
for time two Legislatures were in
session, Thaddeus Stevens { whom
the Democrats styled "Gov. Ritner's
conscience keeper being the lead
ing spirit in one, and an equally ar
dent Democrat in the other, they
finally coalesced without violence,
and united in the choice of a speak
er, and in other acts Of legislation.
In 1888, Mr.. Stevens was appointed
a canal commissioner, and managed,
SO far as he had the power, the sys-
tenn Of internal improvements of
Pennsylvania, with skill and ability.
In 1912, Mr.. Stevens removed to
Lancaster, Penn, which, since that
time, has been his home. Here he
has been largely engaged in manu-
featuring, and during the war, (in