Thaddeus Stevens — A Brilliant and Vindictive Hypocrite

I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. If it be just, it should not be denied; if it be necessary, it should be adopted; if it be a punishment to traitors, they deserve it.

Thaddeus Stevens, January 3, 1867, Congressional Globe

Modern activist historians admire Thaddeus. Admittedly, he did have a way with words and was a skillful politician. The quote above is a fine piece of rhetoric. I am sure he delivered it with the appropriate dramatic flair. As evidence of the virtue of the North in general and of Stevens himself, it falls flat. The facts of the context of the statement show he was a vindictive hypocrite.

The first fact to consider is that in 1867 black freemen in Pennsylvania were barred from voting by the 1838 Pennsylvania Constitution. At least Stevens was honest when he said he was for “negro suffrage in every rebel State.” As a political matter, it is clear why he supported black suffrage in the South. He saw that the Republicans could maintain power in the central government if blacks could vote in the South. Yet, activist historians would never make that connection. Could it be any plainer?

The other important truth is the differences in the black population in the South and in the North. According to the 1860 Census there were 2.9 million white and 57,000 “colored” people in Pennsylvania. Blacks made up 2% of the population. In Southern states blacks made up at least 30% of the population and in some they were a majority.

Even though the black vote would have been inconsequential in Pennsylvania, they could not vote. Yet, historians vilify Southerners for resisting black suffrage when it might have meant losing control of the entire apparatus of power. The truth is that blacks got the vote in Pennsylvania at the same time they got the vote in bad ole Mississippi.