Thaddeus Stevens, Lancaster, Lancaster County

And here we are for part two of the 230th birthday celebration for Mr. Thaddeus Stevens! I very much would like to thank everyone who has shared the previous post, especially the Thaddeus Stevens Society. This past weekend, they celebrated his birthday by putting up a new statue of the gentleman outside of the Adams County courthouse, and I'll look forward to seeing that the next time I go to Gettysburg. I'm also grateful to my fellow Zenkaikon attendees who expressed interest in this, and who have been so kind as to click the links I'm giving them.

This post will be a little more image-heavy than the first one was, because I have more pictures from Thaddeus's later life. I made them smaller than usual for the post, but you can click on any of the pictures if you want to see the larger versions.

The marker stands at the entrance to
Shreiner-Concord Cemetery,
Mulberry and Chestnut Streets

When last we checked in with Thaddeus, it was 1842; he was facing some financial difficulties, and decided to relocate to the sprawling city of Lancaster. He knew he could find plenty of work for his law office there, and recover the losses he'd incurred as a business investor. He packed up his household and left Gettysburg, where he had been one of the most prominent citizens and had endeared himself to his neighbors by his zealous defense of public schools.

In Lancaster, he took up residence in an elegant house at 45 South Queen Street, right up against where the Lancaster County Convention Center stands today. (In fact, part of his property is inside the convention center, and can be viewed through large windows; the room of the center where this can be seen is the same room where those of us who go to Zenkaikon collect our membership badges every year. I'll tell you more about that near the end of the post.) Although widely remembered for having never married or had children of his own, Thaddeus did adopt two of his nephews; young Thaddeus and Alanson came to live with him after their parents died, and he raised them with the help of his housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith.

Mrs. Smith (as he insistently called her) was a fascinating person in her own right. Her father was Irish;  her mother was a free biracial woman of both African and Irish descent. She separated from her husband and moved to Lancaster with her mother and her two sons, and once she became Thaddeus's housekeeper, she remained with him for the rest of his life. He treated her with utmost respect and insisted that all visitors to his home do likewise. He aided her in raising her sons and she in turn helped to raise his nephews. She also had an extremely shrewd mind for financial dealings; he quickly came to rely on her advice with regards to where he should invest in businesses in the Lancaster area, and before long he had paid off his debts and was once again a wealthy man. More than a mere housekeeper, she was his property manager and confidante. The photo at left is from the Lancaster City Visitor Center; if you read my post about Charles Demuth, you know that I mentioned the talking portraits which hang there, and this is the one representing Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. (Thaddeus is rather grumpy when talking to President Buchanan, and Mrs. Smith gets him to rein it in. "Quite right, Mrs. Smith." It's delightful.)

Admittedly, no one ever was or ever will be entirely sure what the exact nature of their relationship was; his detractors often referred to her as being his common-law wife, an accusation which he never bothered to dignify with a response. What is known is that he trusted her deeply, possibly more than anyone else, and that they worked together to aid escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad. There are documented cases of escaped slaves coming to Thaddeus's home for assistance, and even though it could have threatened his political career, he nevertheless welcomed them and gave them directions to the next safe house. He also (as signage in the city of Lancaster explains) employed a pair of "freedom spies," court clerk Edward Rauch and barber Robert Boston, who used their positions in society to thwart the efforts of bounty hunter Robert Hughes. They would gather intelligence and pass it on to Thaddeus, who used their inside information to warn Underground Railroad stationmasters of upcoming raids. Remarkably, these spies were never caught or even suspected of involvement. The picture at right is a contemporary drawing of Thaddeus's home on Queen Street, artist unknown.

Since the 1830s, Thaddeus had been actively campaigning to make slavery illegal. His public statement was that he supported the end of slavery and was against its expansion, but he would not actively try to end it in the states where it existed, if only because they had Constitutional protection from federal interference. I get the impression that he respected the Constitution above almost anything. In 1848, he was elected to Congress on the Whig party ticket, and almost immediately started making a name for himself with his anti-slavery sentiments. The desk pictured at left, on display at the LancasterHistory.org museum, was given to him around this time; it was a gift from Judge Michael William Jacobs, whose father and uncle were graduates of Gettysburg College and personal friends of Thaddeus.

He was opposed to Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850, which (among other things) allowed slavery in the new territories recently acquired from Mexico. He in fact hated the use of the word compromise in this context, saying that when it came to the rights of other human beings, there shouldn't be compromise. The legislation passed despite his opposition, and included the Fugitive Slave Act, which I mentioned in my post about Richard Moore; it allowed slave owners to pursue and reclaim their escaped slaves even if they had successfully reached freedom. Thaddeus hated this part of the Compromise more than any other.

Not long after Thaddeus was re-elected in 1850, the Christiana Riot took place. This has a marker of its own and I'll get there eventually, but it was an uprising in Christiana, a borough in Lancaster County, in which a slaveowner was killed while trying to recover his escaped slaves. 41 people were tried in Philadelphia's federal court - not for murder, but for treason. Thaddeus was one of their defense lawyers, and successfully got them acquitted. The case made it clear to the entire country that he was part of the abolition movement, which unfortunately cost him his seat in Congress and led to his defection from the Whig party. He instead joined a new party known as the Republicans, along with a fellow anti-slavery lawyer from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. He supported their candidate for President in 1856, John Fremont, who lost to James Buchanan. The drawing at right, of Thaddeus addressing Congress, comes from a display in the LancasterHistory.org museum; it was drawn in 1894 by Theodore Davis.

Buchanan and Thaddeus didn't like each other much. They were civil, but being largely on opposite sides of the slavery issue, they stood no chance of ever being friends. Buchanan's term as President is not remembered with any great affection by much of anybody nowadays, and Thaddeus returned to Congress in 1859 to try to prevent the disaster which, in hindsight, we all know was brewing. He was re-elected without opposition and campaigned in Pennsylvania on behalf of Lincoln, who won the nomination and was elected to succeed Buchanan. Almost immediately, several of the southern states began to secede from the union, and Thaddeus was outspoken in his opinion that no attempt should be made to appease them. He firmly believed that "the forces of the United States would crush any rebellion."

The Civil War began in April 1861, and throughout its duration, Thaddeus was defiant toward the south. He was of the opinion that they had removed themselves from the protection of the Constitution, and as such should be taken back by force, and once returned, should have slavery outlawed. He was part of the growing faction known as Radical Republicans; these were Republicans who, rather than being moderate or liberal, were absolutely vociferous in their attitude against slavery. They actually felt Lincoln was a bit too soft, too slow to act, though they nevertheless continued to support him as their leader. They were the ones who pushed him to make the Emancipation Proclamation, and although he felt somewhat harassed by them, he acknowledged that they were righteous in their convictions and he would side with them on the issue.

The war raged on, as war does. In July 1863 came the three-day campaign known as the Battle of Gettysburg, which hardly requires introduction here. On the way there, however, two raiding parties were sent to Caledonia Furnace; Thaddeus was actually present for this, as he was on site to inspect the workings, and much to his annoyance his employees hustled him away for his own safety. This was for the best, however, since General Jubal Early made a claim that if he had captured Thaddeus, he would have hanged and quartered him. Instead, he had to be satisfied with merely burning and ruining the property, costing Thaddeus some $80,000 in damages. (That's in the numbers of the day. The damages would have been well over a million dollars in today's money.)

Aided by the existence of the Emancipation Proclamation, Thaddeus was able to help get the Thirteenth Amendment through Congress, making slavery illegal forever. It was supported by Lincoln, whom Thaddeus once described as "the purest man in America." The amendment was ratified in December 1865, with Thaddeus pushing for it to include economic reparations to the enslaved. Eventually, something like this happened, with the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands being established to provide for escaped and emancipated slaves. Meanwhile, as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Thaddeus lobbied for equal pay for Union soldiers regardless of skin color, and was involved in the Legal Tender Act of 1862 and the National Banking Act of 1863.

The war ended; Thaddeus, re-elected alongside Lincoln, closed out Congress in March 1865 and went home to Lancaster for a spell. He had one last meeting with Lincoln, in which he urged the President to press the South hard. Neither man realized they would never see each other again; Lincoln was assassinated a month later. Thaddeus was unable to attend the funeral cortege when it stopped in Lancaster, owing to illness. However, it's said that he did make his way to a bridge overlooking the railroad, and took off his hat as the train passed. This was far more respect than he had for Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor, whose southern sympathies disappointed him deeply. The Radical Republicans had hoped Johnson would join them, but his lenient plans for Reconstruction led to Thaddeus being one of the seven committee members who sought his impeachment within a few years.

Thaddeus was over seventy, but nevertheless continued working in Congress, drafting what would become the Fourteenth Amendment. The actual amendment as it was eventually ratified was a watered-down version of Thaddeus's original plans, and he wasn't happy with it. He accepted it, however, on the grounds that "I live among men, not angels," and that perfection wasn't something attainable. 

By the time of Johnson's impeachment in 1868, Thaddeus was in poor health. He had to be frequently carried around in a sedan chair, and sometimes had to have others make his speeches for him. He was also despairing over the situation in the south, particularly the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, and considered his work to have largely been a failure. Although he remained proud of his success in establishing public education in Pennsylvania, he otherwise looked back on his career with regret, feeling as though he'd made little difference despite his best efforts. When Congress went into recess in July, he was too ill to even return to his beloved Lancaster, and had to stay in Washington. Mrs. Smith was with him, as was his nephew Thaddeus (Alanson was killed in the war), and he was able to receive farewell visits from some of his friends. He died late in the day on August 11, 1868.

His body was conveyed from his Washington home to the Capitol, where he became only the third person in history to lie in state in the Rotunda. The picture at right shows this happening, a public domain image courtesy of Wiki Commons; the photograph was taken by Matthew Brady and shows members of the Butler Zouaves, an African-American company of soldiers, serving as honor guard. Following the service in Washington, a train brought him back to Lancaster, where - by his own request - he was interred in what is today the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery. He chose the site because the cemetery allowed the burial of anyone regardless of race. Multiple schools are named in honor of the champion of public education, among them the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster.

To the devoted Mrs. Smith, Thaddeus left a considerable inheritance, along with any furnishings from his home that she wanted. She used the money he left her to buy his house, and also a tavern. When she died a few years later, she left some of her money for the eternal upkeep of Thaddeus's grave. The house where they had both lived for so long still stands on Queen Street, though closed to the public. 

An archaeological exploration, started during the establishment of the Lancaster County Convention Center, has unearthed thousands of pieces of evidence of their involvement with the Underground Railroad. Of particular note, the basement cistern is believed to have been where escaped slaves were hidden as they made their way to freedom; this is the part that I mentioned is literally inside the convention center. Work is being done on the site, now known as the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy, and the next few years are expected to be very exciting for local historians. For now, curious visitors can look through the enormous windows at the cistern, and read the informational signage posted by LancasterHistory.org, just by going into the convention center. You can see my picture of it at left; I apologize for the reflection.

It was a fine cold day in April 2019 when I was able to pay my respects at the grave of Thaddeus Stevens. He occupies a marvelous tomb near the rear of the cemetery, which is regarded as a pilgrimage site "for those who seek justice and freedom." The Great Commoner slumbers quietly, unaware of how much of a difference he made to this nation and how much we still desperately need his ideals today. 

I repose in this quiet and secluded spot

Not from any natural preference for solitude

But, finding other Cemeteries limited as to Race by Charter Rules,

I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death

The Principles which I advocated through a long life:

EQUALITY OF MAN BEFORE HIS CREATOR.

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Sources and Further Reading:

The Thaddeus Stevens Society

Lee, James F. "On the trail of Thaddeus Stevens, Pennsylvania's equal rights champion." Washington Post, June 10, 2021.

Burdick, Jonathan. "Thad to the Bone: The unflinching radicalism of Thaddeus Stevens." Erie Reader, Erie, PA, August 10, 2021.

Official website of the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith historic site, under the auspices of LancasterHistory.org

Ellis, Franklin, Samuel Evans, Everts & Peck. History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Salem, Mass., 1993.

Assorted contributors. The Civil War: A Visual History. The Smithsonian Institute, 2011.

Levine, Bruce C. Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice. Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Thaddeus Stevens at FindAGrave.com

Thaddeus Stevens (Lancaster) at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.