Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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IH rules of court in that district, he went to Belair, Hartford County, Maryland, where he was examined and admitted to the Bar in 1816. Returning to Pennsylvania, he opened a law office at Gettys- burg, in Adams County, and entered upon the practice of his pro- fession in that and adjoining counties. In a short time, he was in possession of an extensive and lucrative business to which he gave his entire attention for some sixteen years. Thaddeus Stevens first entered politics at the rise of the Anti- Masonic party about 1828 or 1829. In 1883 he was elected to the popular branch of the Legislature at Harrisburg. There he served as a representative from Adams County. He continued to serve in that body almost without interruption until 1840. It was in the Legislature that he became the leader of his party and contributed much towards the establishment of a free school system. It is a significant fact that when a gymnasium was organized by a few of the prominent citizens during his residence at Gettys- burg that he soon conceived the idea of building on this modest foundation a more useful institution. Through his influence as a member of the Legislature, he secured a charter changing the gymnasium to “The Pennsylvania College,” and he also obtained a donation from the State of an amount of monev sufficient to erect for the college its principal and most costly edifice. The only con- sideration for this liberality was the free education of a specified number of destitute young men who might avail themselves of this privilege from time to time and also that the German language should constantly be taught in the institution. Thaddeus Stevens served as a member of the Board of Trustees to the time of his death. But he achieved his great desire for the education of the poor when by a single effort he established the principle that it is the duty of the state to provide the facilities for education to all the children of the Commonwealth. Before 1834, public education was provided only to self-con- fessed paupers. In order to have his children educated at public expense, it was necessary for the parent or guardian to make it ap- pear that he was not able to furnish them the means of education. This system was illustrated by the Friends’ Public School, where

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THADDEUS STEVENS, ADVOCATE OF FREE EDUCATION Every child educated today in a free school in Pennsylvania is indebted to the tireless efforts of Thaddeus Stevens, champion, throughout his active life, of universal freedom and universal edu- cation. Without his efforts, it is probable that Pennsylvania would have been one of the last of the old free states to adopt free edu- cation. It was in April, 1835, while a member of the House of Repre- sentatives in the Pennsylvania Legislature, that he supported the bill for free education with his immortal speech. After that the House immediately passed his motion, that of substituting for the Senate bill another bill strengthening the law which it proposed to repeal, but most remarkable of all, the Senate, which but a short time before had so decisively voted for repeal, immediately return- ed to its chambers and concurred, with a few unimportant amend- ments, in the House substitute bill. This incident in Thaddeus Stevens's career as a brilliant statesman came early in his political life. Forty-three years before this, Thaddeus Stevens, the son of Joshua and Sally Stevens, was born at Danville, Caledonia Coun- ty, Vermont, cm the fourth day of April, 1792. Although very little is known about his ancestors, the stock was evidently Anglo- Saxon. His parents were poor, and the community he lived in was inhabited by poor people. Not much is known about his father except that he disappeared when Thaddeus was a youngster, leav- ing Mrs. Stevens to rear four sons. She had great energy, a strong will, and deep piety. During an ordinary childhood, Thaddeus was sickly and crip- pled. Mrs. Stevens let him attend the common schools in that dis- trict. After he finished there, he prepared for college at Peacham Academy in his native county. From here, he entered the Univer- sity of Vermont, remaining there about two years. After this, he proceeded to Dartmouth and was graduated from that institution in 1814. Determined to become a lawyer, he read law’ at Peacham for some months. In 1815, he settled in York, Pennsylvania. Here he taught in an academy and pursued his legal studies. On account of certain ■ ■ - ■ -------r—T-

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the rich were educated at reasonable rates, and the poor were maintained and schooled for nothing. The system of public education was first tried in Philadelphia, and the agitation for such a plan to include the whole State termi- nated in the Act of 1834 whose basic principle was free education for all. This Act passed with only one dissenting vote. Of course it involved taxation, and the thrifty people of Pennsylvania could not consent to a system which took the money of those who had no children and used it for the education of the children of the well- to-do. So at the next session of the Legislature, the people sent rep- resentatives who were instructed to repeal the Bill. It was this Legislature that Thaddeus Stevens converted and from which he secured public education for future generations of Pennsylvania. While a member of this legislative body, he attended the con- vention called in 1837 to revise the Constitution of Pennsylvania. He refused to put his name to the completed instrument because the word, “white”, was inserted as a designation for qualification of suffrage. On account of losses in the iron business and other debts in- curred by loans to his friends, he moved to Lancaster County in 1842 and resumed his law practice. His reputation as a lawyer preceded him, and from the large income he earned, he was able in a few years to pay his debts and save the bulk of his estate. Thaddeus Stevens became a member of the Congress at Wash- ington, D. C., in 1849. He was the leader of the House of Repre- sentatives from July 4, 1861, until his death. During the Civil War, he was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means and afterwards of the Committee on Appropriations and Reconstruc- tion. All his efforts during the War were concerned with the abo- lition of slavery. His life up to his death on Tuesday, August 11, 1868, was devoted to the poor and oppressed. Tireless in his efforts to insure freedom and equality for all people in spite of race, he will be remembered in the hearts of students of the public schools of Pennsylvania as hastening their freedom from ignorance. Today the splendidly equipped and well-organized school buildings of Pennsylvania remain as fitting monuments to Thaddeus Stevens. Edna May Bates.