[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 30, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1690-H1691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO THADDEUS STEVENS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, on this day 136 years ago, one of the 
predecessors from my congressional district, a man named Thaddeus 
Stevens, stood in this Chamber and introduced the 14th

[[Page H1691]]

amendment to the Constitution. The Civil War was over, but African 
Americans still were not guaranteed the rights of citizens. The 13th 
amendment had banned slavery, but many States were still refusing basic 
rights to black people.
  In 1868, Thaddeus Stevens of Lancaster, Pennsylvania introduced the 
14th amendment to fix that. His amendment guaranteed that all persons 
born in the United States were citizens, not just of this country, but 
also of the State where they lived. Thaddeus Stevens fought hard for 
the 14th amendment.
  However, the 14th amendment was not enough for him. He wanted full 
equality among the races, but that was too much for his contemporaries. 
Disappointed, Stevens said that he would ``Take all I can get in the 
cause of humanity and leave it to be perfected by better men in better 
times.''
  Stevens died soon afterwards and was buried in the only cemetery in 
Lancaster that did not discriminate. His tombstone reads this way: ``I 
repose in this quiet and secluded spot, that I might illustrate in my 
death the principes which I advocated through a long life: equality of 
man before his Creator.''
  Mr. Speaker, Thaddeus Stevens was a great man indeed.

                          ____________________