Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical
Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce
opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans,
Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in
opposition to President Andrew Johnson. After serving in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Stevens was elected to Congress
in 1848 as a Whig. His activities in opposition to slavery cost him
votes and he did not seek reelection in 1852. Stevens joined the newly
formed Republican Party, and was elected to Congress again in 1858.
Stevens argued that slavery should not survive the American Civil War;
he was frustrated by the slowness of President Abraham Lincoln to
support his position. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
during the war, he played a major part in the war's financing. After
Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Stevens came into conflict with
the new president, Johnson. Stevens's last great battle was to secure
articles of impeachment in the House against Johnson, though the Senate
did not convict the President.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1768:
Philip Astley set up the first modern amphitheatre for the
display of horse riding tricks in Lambeth, London, the origin of the
modern circus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus>
1796:
French naturalist Georges Cuvier delivered a lecture at the
National Museum of Natural History on living and fossil remains of
elephants and related species, founding the science of paleontology.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Cuvier>
1859:
Bryant's Minstrels premiered the popular American song "Dixie"
in New York City as part of their blackface minstrel show.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_(song)>
1968:
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was
assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.>
1990:
The current flag of Hong Kong was adopted for post-colonial use
during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hong_Kong>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
roundabout:
Indirect, circuitous or circumlocutionary; that does not do something in
a direct way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundabout>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in
shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes
into our sight to liberate us into life.
--Maya Angelou
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou>
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