Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague, Mr. Meadows. You spoke very well and eloquently about how Vermonters are very proud of Thaddeus Stevens. You gave so much of his biography that I am going to just embrace what you said, but I am going to give you one pronunciation hint: it is Peacham, Vermont. We are going to bring you up there and show you where Thaddeus Stevens was born. Again, thank you so much for your very gracious remarks about Thaddeus Stevens. We in Vermont are very proud of him, as I think Americans are, for many reasons. Vermont was the 14th State. We were the first State that banned slavery in its constitution. We were also the first independent republic that had become part of the Union. Thaddeus Stevens, we would like to think, carried on what was a Vermont conviction about the freedom of men and women, regardless of race. That conviction was to fight against slavery throughout the most tumultuous times of our republic: the years going up to the Civil War, the years during the Civil War, and then the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Some of the most important contributions by the United States Congress occurred after the Civil War, with the passage of, among other things, the 14th Amendment. Thaddeus Stevens was a leading proponent of that 14th Amendment that guaranteed due process of law to all of our citizens, regardless of race. This has been extremely important in our Constitution.…”