USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On May 8, 1866, Thaddeus Stevens delivered this speech introducing the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives. The leader of the Radical Republicans in the House, Stevens was a lawyer, politician, and staunch abolitionist.

Detailed explanation-2: -Stevens argued that slavery should not survive the war; he was frustrated by the slowness of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to support his position. He guided the government’s financial legislation through the House as Ways and Means chairman.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Radical Republicans were a group of politicians who formed a faction within the Republican party that lasted from the Civil War into the era of Reconstruction. They were led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Representatives and Charles Sumner in the Senate.

Detailed explanation-4: -Stevens drafted his own version of the 13th Amendment, but when it failed to gain support, he shepherded a more popular version through Congress. It ended slavery in all states, whereas the Emancipation Proclamation only abolished slavery in the Confederacy. Stevens also guided the 14th Amendment through Congress.

Detailed explanation-5: -They also believed that the Confederate leaders should be punished for their roles in the Civil War. Leaders like Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus Stevens and Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner vigorously opposed Andrew Johnson’s lenient policies.