PRINTER'S NO. 653
No. 63 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY ARMSTRONG, APRIL 4, 2005
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, APRIL 4, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Designating April 4, 2005, as "Thaddeus Stevens Day" in
2 Pennsylvania and congratulating Thaddeus Stevens College of
3 Technology on its 100th anniversary.
4 WHEREAS, The Senate recognizes that April 4, 2005, is the
5 209th birthday of Thaddeus Stevens; and
6 WHEREAS, Thaddeus Stevens, self-taught in the law, served
7 several terms of office in the General Assembly, where he was a
8 renowned advocate of free public education; and
9 WHEREAS, As a member of the committee on the 1837
10 Constitution of Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens refused to sign
11 his name to the final document because it limited the right to
12 vote to "white citizens"; and
13 WHEREAS, Thaddeus Stevens was an activist in promoting the
14 underground railroad and seeking intelligence which thwarted
15 runaway slave bounty hunters, thereby freeing many African
16 Americans from bondage in the South; and
17 WHEREAS, Thaddeus Stevens, known as the Father of
18 Reconstruction, represented Lancaster County in the United
1 States House of Representatives, where he emerged as an
2 outspoken foe of slavery; and
3 WHEREAS, As chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means,
4 Thaddeus Stevens urged the administration to emancipate and arm
5 slaves; and
6 WHEREAS, Thaddeus Stevens was a key parliamentary leader,
7 guiding passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the
8 Constitution of the United States; and
9 WHEREAS, Thaddeus Stevens was buried in an integrated
10 cemetery in Lancaster with an epitaph that reads: "I have chosen
11 this that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I
12 advocated through a long life: Equality of Man before his
13 Creator"; and
14 WHEREAS, The Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, founded
15 in 1905 in Lancaster, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year
16 with a host of centennial activities; therefore be it
17 RESOLVED, That the Senate designate April 4, 2005, as
18 "Thaddeus Stevens Day" in Pennsylvania and congratulate Thaddeus
19 Stevens College of Technology on its 100th anniversary.
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