Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Engle, Stephen D.
Abstract
On August 11, 1868, Thaddeus Stevens died. He left behind him an unfinished and unjust nation. In his 76 years, he attempted to articulate a vision of American society as a raceblind meritocracy where the rights of individual citizens were safeguarded by a state they directed in common regardless of race, class, or gender. This thesis traces the intellectual path Stevens blazed through politics, economics, and religion as he tried to craft a version of American liberalism equal to the fundamental problems of racism and economic inequality exposed by the Civil War, also treating his unorthodox personal and religious lives. It concludes with a survey of radical remembrances and reassessments of Stevens by activists seeking to follow in his footsteps and remold American society between the counter-revolution of 1877 and the appearance of Eric Foner's revisionist opus Reconstruction: Americas Unfinished Revolution.
Extent
146 p.
Recommended Citation
Calway, S. Henry, "THE ABOLITION HYPOTHESIS: THADDEUS STEVENS, RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION, AND THE OUTER LIMITS OF AMERICAN LIBERALISM" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present. 1502.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/1502
Identifier
FA00014375
Comments
Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2024.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.