Description: Hailed as "the most important congressman in the House of Representatives during the Civil War" and still honored in Pennsylvania as the father of its public school system, Thaddeus Stevens grappled in his day with many of the issues that confront us today: racial and economic equality, affirmative action, and equal access to education.

Volume one of the projected two-volume edition of The Papers of Thaddeus Stevens covers Stevens's political career from his Vermont youth to the end oft Civil War. It includes letters and speeches from his early days as a Gettysburg lawyer and as a representative in the Pennsylvania assembly through his antislavery efforts to the 1865 passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, freeing all slaves.

"Thaddeus Stevens was a towering force during the entire Civil War era and was primarily responsible for many of the initiatives relating to emancipation, tariffs, greenbacks, education, and industrial expansion that changed the face of the nation and the world. Few have raged against injustice as faithfully and effectively as Stevens, and yet his personal actions and political entanglements have rendered him inscrutable, often maligned and usually misunderstood. The Papers of Thaddeus Stevens is a brilliant, scholarly effort to capture the mind and soul of one of the most interesting figures in American history in his own words. This volume meticulously deciphers and places in context both the sputterings and sublime oratory of Thaddeus Stevens. It is invaluable". Mark S. Singel, former Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor of Pennsylvania

"This volume provides a comprehensive view of one of the nineteenth-century's most fascinating people. The compilation ofStevens' writings and speeches offers an intimate insight into his strongly-held principles, his fiery temperament, his persuasive intellect and his caustic wit". U.S. Representative Robert S. Walker, Pennsylvania

"This long-awaited work masterfully reconstructs and artfully presents the previously scattered, fragmentary record of a hugely significant figure in American political history. Enraged, blunt, astute, and determined, Stevens here engages public and personal issues in a manner that is intensely captivating and broadly enlightening. These papers greatly enrich our understanding of the United States Congress during the Civil War era". Richard Allan Baker, Historian, United States Senate

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