USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
if not requiring so much actual labor, and, with the old time family predilection, has become interested in the production of iron. In 1879 he purchased an interest in the Potts Brothers Iron Company (Limi- ted) of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, which owns and operates a rolling mill in that place, and which also
runs the Chester Pipe and Tube Works, of Chester, Penn. In 1880 he purchased the Isabella Furnace property in Chester County, formerly owned by his father, and now operated by the sons of the new proprietor. In 1886 hc was elected a trustee of
the University of Pennsylvania. In 1887 he was appointed one of the Board of Inspectors of the
Prison of Philadelphia County. In 1888 he was ap- pointed one of the trustees of the Western Saving Fund of Philadelphia. On June 1, 1854, Mr. Potts married Mary, daughter of Dr. William and Mar- garet (Pollock) McCleery, of Milton, Northumber- land County, Pennsylvania. They have two sons living : William M., and Francis Lanier Potts.
THADDEUS STEVENS.
HON. THADDEUS STEVENS was born at Dan- ville, Caledonia Co., Vt., April 4, 1792. His parents were very poor, possessing but a small farm, and his father, Joshua Stevens a shoemaker, which trade the son also followed for a brief period after his father's death. Of this fact he was accustomed to boast in the early days of his political career, as candidate for the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and it also gave rise to numerous exaggerated reports. Joshua was an athlete and accounted the best wrestler of his neighborhood. Having enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, he was wounded in the attack upon Oswego, and died shortly after. His wife, Sarah Morrill before marriage, was a woman of remarkable energy and strength of character. From her the son inherited. Obliged to assume the total respon- sibility of a family whose head was incapacitated by irregular habits, she labored for their support, espe- cially directing her efforts to the education of her youngest son, who was early sent to school. Deli- cacy in youth and lameness, the result of deformity,
secured him the time and advantages for study,
which he improved to the utmost. At the same time his sensitive disposition was stung by the taunts and insults of boorish companions, and doubtless receded into the sternness and proud self- consciousness which were his subsequent character-
istics. His aptitude in the earlier branches of learn- ing was rewarded with a college career, begun at Burlington (where he witnessed with a spy-glass, September 11, 1814, " the fight between McDonough and the British fleet on Lake Champlain "), but completed at Dartmouth a year later. The first stirring of ambition in his heart was occasioned by a visit to Boston in the year 1804, when his boyish mind was impressed by the spectacle of wealth in a
manner to arouse an ardent desire for its possession. Next year the outbreak of "spotted fever " in his native county called the energies and charity of his mother into active exercise. Most families, and in many cases all the inmates of a house, were stricken,
98
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and to all she appeared as an angel of mercy. In ("of impeachment notoriety ") presiding, he was her visits to the sick and needy she was accom- formally admitted to the bar, and returning to Penn- sylvania, finally located at Gettysburg. Here for some time his prospects were very gloomy. He was able to secure only an inferior order of cases, and with poverty staring him in the face, his condi- tion was becoming desperate, when a murder case of which he alone undertook the defense produced a sudden revulsion in his affairs. Although unable to acquit his client, his argument was so remarka- ble, the display of legal talent so decisive, that a reputation was at once established and the "club- footed lawyer " entered on an active and lucrative practice, despite the jealousy of his brethren at the bar, whom he frequently overcame with ridicule, the genius of satire and burly wit proving often a successful weapon in the hands of an accomplished master. His rise was steady, and by 1827 he was a considerable property owner and employed in all prominent cases, not only in Adams Co., but the adjoining ones of Cumberland, York and Franklin. His business occupied his attention, but he was also greatly given to horsemanship, and tales of his equestrian performances were long prevalent among the farmers of his own State and Maryland, where he frequently attended races. The intense opposi- tion to slavery, which has been described as "a moral necessity of his nature," was perhaps engen- dered by the proximity of the last-mentioned State. He was frequently called on to defend fugitives from her borders, and the mortal antipathy nour- ished by the material exposed to view grew until it found its arena in the halls of Congress, where he thundered in tremendous invective. His first en- trance on political life was as a member of the Anti- Masonic Convention, which met in September, 1831, to nominate William Wirt and Amos Ellmaker. The rise of the party from the death of Morgan, ex- ecuted for betraying the secrets of the Order in 1826, was fierce and rapid, the feeling on both sides virulent, and Stevens was among the foremost in denouncing Masonry as an imperium in imperio, pro- testing against titles and oaths of secrecy as opposed to the spirit of Republican laws. The Presidential candidate was defeated, having received the votes of but a single State, the native one of Thaddeus Stevens, but the party was continued as an organ- ization for several years. In the fall of 1833 Stevens took a seat in the lower House of the Pennsylvania Legislature as an Anti-Mason. The introduction of the free school system into the State was the all- engrossing subject of dispute. A bill passed by both Houses, and sanctioned by Gov. Wolf, April 1, 1834, was attempted to be repealed. 558 petitions to this effect, bearing 31,988 names, were laid before panied by the young Thaddeus, who gained such an insight into the miseries of suffering humanity as left a marked impression on his life. He was never known to refuse distress, and tenderness to the af- flicted became a leading feature of his character. Of his mother he always spoke with reverent affec- tion and gratitude. Shortly before his death he said : "I really think the greatest gratification of my life resulted from my ability to give my mother a farm of two hundred and fifty acres and a dairy of fourteen cows, and an occasional bright gold piece, which she loved to deposit in the contrib- utors' box of the Baptist Church, which she at- tended. This always gave her great pleasure, and me much satisfaction. My mother was a very ex- traordinary woman. I have met very few women like her. My father was not a well-to-do man, and the support and education of the family depended on my mother. She worked day and night to edu- cate me. I was feeble and lame in youth ; and, as I could not work on the farm, she concluded to give me an education. I tried to repay her afterwards, but the debt of a child to his mother, you know, is one of the debts we can never pay. Poor woman ! The very thing I did to gratify her most hastencd her death. She was very proud of her dairy and fond of her cows ; and one night going to look after them she fell and injured herself, so that she died soon after." In his will a clause provided : "That the sexton keep her grave in good order and plant roses and other cheerful flowers at each of the four corners of said grave every spring," while further on he devised $1,000 to aid in the establishment at his home of a Baptist Church, of which sect she was a devoted member. "I do this," he says, " out of re- spect to the memory of my mother, to whom I owe what little of prosperity I have had on earth, which, small as it is, I desire emphatically to acknowledge." In order to meet his college expenses he essayed teaching, and after graduating obtaincd a position as assistant in an academy at York, Pa., presided over by Dr. Perkins. At this time he was remarked on as a "backward, retiring and modest young man," and also as a close student. His intervals of leisure were devoted to the study of law, but an attempt was made to prevent his admittance to the bar by the passage of resolutions "providing that no person should be recognized as a lawyer who followed any other vocation while preparing himself for admission." No motive has been assigned for this action, which, however, did not deter the young student. Proceeding to Harford Co., Md., where the County Court was then in session, Judge Chase
Eng aby G E Penne & CD 11 York
THADDEUS STEVENS
99
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
the House of Representatives in the Assembly of 1834, and but 49, of 2,575 signers, in its favor. "The fact that it seemed to impose a new tax was seized upon by both parties, and each, fearing the other might gain advantage by being foremost in its de- nunciation, made all possible haste to declaim against it. When the bill was called up in the House it seemed as though no one would say a word in favor of the then existing law. Speech after speech was delivered in favor of the repeal, and the question was on the point of being put when Mr. Stevens rose to speak. He was terribly in earnest. All his powers were arouscd to the utmost. Those who heard him say he spoke like a prophet inspired by the truth and magnitude of his theme. In ten minutes it seemed as though all opposition to the schools was utterly vanquished. When the vote was taken the bill was defeated by a large majority." This occasion Stevens himself considered "the crowning utility of his life," and he held he would be amply compensated for his labors in behalf of the edueation of the masses, if some child of the Com- monwealth who should reap the advantage, might one day drop a tear of grateful memory on his grave. "When I review all the measures in which I have taken part, some of them very important," he said in a letter, "I see none in which I feel so much pleasure, perhaps I may be excused for saying pride, as the free school system of Pennsylvania. When I entered the Legislature about thirty years ago there was not a school in any part of the State where the children of the poor could acquire com- mon education without recording themselves pau- pers and being recognized as such by their fellow students. Now there is no obscure barren spot within the broad limits of Pennsylvania where the children of the rich and poor do not meet in com- mon schools on equal terms." The efforts of the Anti-Masons were by no means relaxed, and Stevens proved an able champion in the Legislature, where he offered, February 10, 1834, the following resolu- lution, which failed by a vote of 45 to 34:
" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to in- quire into the expediency of providing by law for making Free Masonry a good cause of peremptory ehallenge to jurors in all cases, when one of the par- ties is a Free Mason and the other is not; and on the part of the Commonwealth, in all prosccutions for crimes and misdemeanors, when the defendant is a Mason; and, also, when the judge and one of the parties are Free Masons, to make the same pro- visions for the trials of causes as now exist when the judge and either of the parties are related to each other by blood or marriage; and to make the same provision relative to the summoning and re- turn of jurors, where the sheriff and either of the parties are Free Masons, as now exists where they are related to each other by blood or marriage; and
that said committee have power to send for persons and papers."
Again, as Chairman of the committee to investi- gate Masonry, he submitted a report, the object of which was to place on record the views and demands of his party. The bill, which it accompanied, "to prohibit in future the administration of Masonic, Odd Fellows and all other secret, extra-judicial oaths, obligations and promises in the nature of oaths," was lost by a majority of twenty votes. The election of Ritner, an Anti-Mason, as Governor, lent a new impetus to the party, and in the legis- lative session of 1835-6, Stevens secured the ap- pointment of a committee "to investigate the evils of Masonry and other secret societies," which was known as the " Star Chamber Committee," because of the attempt to extract information from the Masons themselves which, as was believed, would be prejudicial to the Order. Many of the most prominent Masons and distinguished men of the State were subpoenaed to appear before this com- mittee, but most declined, and those who appeared refused to allow the Constitutional right to interfere with the union of men in pursuit of happiness so long as no law of the land was violated. An attempt to commit the recusants for contempt of court failed utterly, and the question of Masonry was set at rest, the untiring energy of its carnest adversary passing on to yet more formidable endeavors in defence of liberty. The rise of the Anti-Slavery party about this time, as insignifieant in its inception as it was destined to be furious and effective in the course of years, absorbed to itself the agitation which had been aroused. The tremor of Anti-Masonry but preceded the earthquake of Abolition, now for the first time entering into politieal combinations as an elcment of possible upheaval. Ths National Anti- Slavery Convention, consisting of sixty members from ten States of the Union, assembled in Phila- delphia in the year that Stevens first entered on publie life. "While a member of the Legislature at Harrisburgh, so enthusiastically did he champion the Abolitionists' right of petition and their free mail privileges with other citizens, that the contest on these questions for a time would have seemed as if transferred from the halls of the National Con- gress to those of the Pennsylvania Assembly." His first speech of importance had been a severe review of the party and acts of President Jackson, and his ardent support of the United States Bank, the State charter for which he secured with a capital of $35,- 000,000, on the refusal of the Government to re- charter, brought him into special prominence. The erisis of 1837 and the culminating difficulties of 1841 brought the Bank into final liquidation. In 1836
100
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Stevens was clected a member of the Reform Con- vention to amend the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which for many years had been under discussion. It assembled at Harrisburgh, May 2, 1837, Stevens acting as Chairman of one of the most important committees. Here his advocacy of radical measures encountered much opposition, especially from Wm. M. Meredith, whose descent to personal abuse he scathed with his withering sarcasm. The question of admission of Negro freedmen to suffrage, a peti- tion for which was presented from the freed colored men of Pittsburgh, provoked animated debate, and Stevens most bitterly resented the introduction of the word " white," refusing to affix his signature to the Constitution as so amended. On the adjourn- ment of the Legislature he was appointed by Gov. Ritner, Canal Commissioner in connection with Messrs. Dickey and Pennybaker. The "Buckshot War," as it is termed in the history of the State, is chiefly memorable for the part cnacted by Stevens, and in this respect deserves mention. The election of two Senators and six Representatives in the fall of 1838 being sharply contested, duplicate returns were made by the contending parties. The rival Representatives were duly sworn and two Speakers appointed, the Whig, nominated by Stevens and by him conducted to the Chair, being expelled by Thos. B. McElwee, and the House adjourned. Scenes of indescribable confusion ensued in both halls, Stevens moving in the midst as the genius of the storm, and in imminent danger of his life. So great were the fears occasioned by the mob violence displayed and threatened, that demand was made by Gov. Ritner on the General Government for protective troops, but this was refused, the Government declining to interfere in an affair that belonged so clearly to the jurisdiction of State law, and militia were sum- moned to the Capital. Stevens, however, remained firm in the position he had assumed, amid a general defection to the " Hopkins House " (so-called from its Democratic Speaker), declaring its triumph illegal and refusing to resume his seat. He agreed to at- tend a special meeting the next May, when, declar- ing his seat vacant, the House, under the lead of McElwee, appointed a committee to investigate his - claim, a motion against which he protested. The adverse action of the committee being sustained, Stevens was deprived of his seat, but in a special election was at once returned-a triumph peculiarly gratifying. Shortly after the expiration of his term, August, 1842, he removed to Lancaster, where he devoted himself to the practice of the law, in the teeth of strong feeling on the part of the older mem- bers of the bar. His triumphs were complete and decisive, and his fortune increased rapidly. The
following description, from the eulogies pronounced after his death, gives perhaps the best idea of him at this period :
" His bearing in the presence of the court and bar was always dignified and courteous, his cases were thoroughly digested and understood, and while he guarded carefully their weak points, he readily per- ceived and took advantage of those of his adversary. In the examination of witnesses he was most suc- cessful, his pleasing and insinuating address gaining the confidence of the witness and eliciting a truthful recital of the facts, while his intimate knowledge of human nature enabled him at a glance to detect pre- varication or dissimulation, and when detected he made the witness writhe under his unmerciful cross- examination. He never took or used notes of the evidence, the speeches of opponents or the rulings of the court, trusting wholly to a memory that never failed him. In the preparation of his law he was industrious and careful, here, too, relying upon his memory ; his brief seldom contained more than the name of the case and page of the book. In argu- ment he cited but few authorities, and those directly to his purpose Grasping one or two points which he conceived vital to the cause, he directed all his energies and concentrated all his powers upon them, giving little attention to subordinate questions. No matter with whom he associated, he never tried a cause save upon his own theory of the case. He was as remarkable for his consideration, forbear- ance and kindness when opposed to the young, weak and diffident as he was for the grim jest, hidden sneer, pointed sarcasm and fierce invective launched at one who entered the lists and challenged battle with such weapons. He was always willing to give advice and assistance to the young and inexperi- enced members of the profession, and his large library was ever open to their use. He had many young men who read law with him, though he did not care to have students. There were, however, two recommendations which never failed to procure an entrance into his office-ambition to learn and inability to pay for the privilege."
He was universally retained and known as the de- fender of fugitive slaves, his sentiments being widely understood, and many of his most brilliant speeches were made upon these occasions. In 1840 he sup- ported the nomination of Harrison, and it was con- fidently expected he would hold a seat in the Cabinet of that President. That of Postmaster General was believed to have been reserved for him, "but through the open opposition of Clay and the waver- ing of Webster, the appointment was given to Granger. Stevens never forgave Webster for the part he took in this transaction." In 1844 he was reconciled to Mr. Clay, and lent him assistance in the election campaign, which terminated unfortu- nately. In 1848, with the election of Gen. Taylor, he was returned to the XXXIst Congress, and en- tered at once vigorously and conspicuously into the agitating questions that divided parties and sowed the seeds of future war. In the prolonged contest for the Speakership, Stevens, as a Whig, supported
IOI
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Winthrop, although he is said to have received four votes himself, and the eight members of the Free Soil Party in the House, by the account of Joshua Giddings, would have given him their united vote from his previous standing and principles. The momentous debates of the session, terminated by the famous compromise measures of 1850, called forth all Stevens' eloquence against slavery, in the question of the organization of new Territorics and the admission of California, while he maintaincd a steady resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law, recom- mended in the "Omnibus Bill." He was again elected in 1850, but failed of the nomination for the ensuing term and retired to private life at Lancas- ter, keeping, however, a watchful eye on the politi- cal situation. In 1851 he acted as counsel for the defendant in the famous Christiana Treason trial, in connection with John M. Read. An attempt to re- cover a slave by a prominent Maryland farmer had resulted in the death of the latter at the hands of assembled Negroes, countenanced by two white men. The verdict of "Not Guilty " proved conclusive as to all future attempts to enforce the law in communi- ties where public sentiment was so strongly opposed. In 1858, at the important crisis of a long series of events leading inevitably to the War of Secession, Stevens was again elected to Congress as the Re- publican representative of Lancaster. In the organ- ization of the Republican party he had taken an unbounded interest. Enormous issues, the birth of which had been slowly maturing, presented a wide field for the peculiar genius and intense passions of this ardent lover of liberty and political equality. The XXXVIth Congress opened (as the XXXIst ten years before) with a vigorous contest for the Speak- ership of the House, in which Stevens eugaged ac- tively. His subsequent career in Congress is matter of history. He was successively returned to the XXXVIth, XXXVIIth, XXXVIIIth, XXXIXth and XLth Congresses, and, as leader of the House, the " Great Commoner " impressed himself on all its acts so that more than briefly to outline his con- victions would be to write a history of the period, one of the most momentous that has occurred among nations. He early believed war inevitable on the secession of the Southern States, prophesying a long and bloody struggle and urging the necessity of preparation. He resisted all measures of compro- mise, believing them wholly ineffectual, co-operat- ing, March 1, 1861, with Galusha A. Grow, Hick- man, Lovejoy and others to prevent the reception of the Memorial of the Peace Congress. He said :
"The question of the dissolution of the Union is a grave one, and should be approached without ex- citement or passion or fear. Homilies upon the
Union and jeremiads over its destruction can be of uo usc, except to display fine rhetoric and pathetic eloquence. The Southern States will not be turned from their deliberate and stern purpose by soft words and touching lamentations. After the ex- tent to which they have gone, it would do them no credit; condemnation, which is now felt for their conduct, would degenerate into contempt."
As Chairman of the Committee on Ways aud Means, he labored for the increase of the army and the passage of appropriations for its support. The sway he exercised over men's minds was abnormal, and he excused the inconsistency of acts to obtain a set purpose, by the statement that Congress was " composed of men and not of angels." "With him," it has been said, " there was no to-morrow in life. He was truthful to his instincts, to his nature, and his public career displayed the increasing ac- tivity of an ever-present to-day." On the question of confiscation, he boldly asserted the necessity of setting aside the Constitution in dealing with those who denied it. On the first day of the second ses- sion of the XXXVIIth Congress, he submitted the following preamble and resolutions :
" Whereas, Slavery has caused the present rebel- lion in the United States; and whereas, there can be no solid and permanent peace and union in this Republic so long as that institution exists within it ; and whereas, slaves are now used by the rebels as an essential means of supporting and protracting the war; and whereas, by the law of nations it is right to liberate the slaves of any enemy to weaken its power ; therefore,
" 1st. Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the President be requested to declare free, and to direct all our generals and officers in command, to order freedom to all slaves who shall leave their masters, or who shall aid in quelling this rebellion.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.