# Thaddeus Stevens Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868), the "Great Commoner," was a Pennsylvania congressman and the dominant leader of the **Radical Republicans** in the U.S. House during Reconstruction. A fierce lifelong opponent of slavery and racial discrimination, he was instrumental in the passage of the [[Fourteenth Amendment]] and drove the House's opposition to [[Andrew Johnson]] — including the impeachment. He is a load-bearing figure in the Reconstruction cluster: the congressional force pushing hardest for Black citizenship and equality against Johnson's obstruction. > Status: **stub** — expand Stevens's biography, his land-redistribution proposals, and his role in the Johnson impeachment. ## See Also - [[Reconstruction and Its Overthrow]] - [[Andrew Johnson]] - [[Fourteenth Amendment]]