Vol. 8, No. 2 www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com Fall 2006
We will be seeing a portion of, Tennessee Johnson, a 1942 film about President Andrew Johnson. The last part of the film includes the effort by Thaddeus Stevens, played by
There will be a business meeting before the film, where plans for staffing the Stevens exhibit at the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology will be discussed. For directions to Ross Hetrick’s house, call 717-334-5227.
movie, Tennessee Johnson
Convention Center Authority Devises Funding Plan
The Convention Authority delayed the demolition and came up with a new funding plan. The Preservation Trust then gave the go-ahead to remove the back portions of the houses. While there are many questions about the plan it demonstrates that the power structure in Lancaster is intent on building the Convention Center.
The Thaddeus Stevens Society has not taken any further action because it appears certain that the convention center will be built. We now look forward to work beginning on the museum complex, which will extol the legacy of Thaddeus Stevens.
The actions are the first steps in a project by the Historical Preservation Trust of Lancaster to restore the front sections of the two houses and to create a museum complex about Thaddeus Stevens and the fight for human equality.
Earlier this summer when it appeared that the Convention Authority might not be able to raise enough money to build the center, there were fears that the back halves of the houses might be torn down without a convention center being built behind them. This could have lead to further deterioration of the historic houses. As a result, the Preservation
Joyce Godwin, a descendant of Thaddeus Stevens’s brother Joshua, has a cane owned by Thaddeus, which is inscribed on its cap with the words: “Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2, 3 1863, T. Stevens.” Why it referred to the Gettysburg battle was unclear since Stevens was living in Lancaster at the time of the battle.
But then in December 2005 Brad Hoch published his book, Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg, The Making of An Abolitionist. On page 95 he mentioned that a mother of six from Gettysburg sent Thaddeus Stevens a cane made from relics from the battlefield. So not only does Joyce Godwin have an artifact of her famous ancestor but also of the Battle of Gettysburg. What a find.
“I can never acknowledge the right of slavery. I will bow down to no deity however worshipped by professing Christians – however dignified by the name of the Goddess of Liberty, whose footstool is the crushed necks of the groaning millions, and who rejoices in the resoundings of the tyrant’s lash, and the cries of his tortured victims.” May 4, 1838.