As a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1837, Stevens was the most outspoken advocate of the rights of blacks. His opposition to a measure that would have prohibited free blacks from entering Pennsylvania led to the defeat of the proposal. Stevens advocated universal suffrage and free public school education for all citizens, including blacks. When the final document did not include a provision permitting blacks to vote, Stevens refused to sign. Rising on the floor of convention, Stevens gave an impassioned plea in opposition to slavery: Amidst turmoil in the Whig Party, Stevens left Congress after the 1852 session. But his political career was far from over. He was a key force in the organization of the national Republican Party. With the Democratic Party in turmoil under the leadership of fellow Pennsylvanian President James Buchanan, Stevens once again decided to rerum to politics in 1858, this time as a Republican. Stevens secured the Republican Party nomination for Congress in Lancaster. In response, the Democrat-controlled Lancaster Intelligencer ran the famous headline "Niggerism Triumphant." Nevertheless, Stevens was returned to Congress. After Lincoln's election in 1860, Stevens, as leader of the Radical Republicans, was frequently at odds with the new Republican President. Stevens was far more insistent on emancipation and complete civil rights for the freedmen than [Abraham Lincoln], whose primary concern was the maintenance of the integrity of the Union. After the Civil War, Stevens was mental in the formation of the federal Reconstruction program. Although President Andrew Johnson blocked many of Stevens Stevens' more radical proposals, the Republican Great Commoner leader was able to put in place many of the programs that enabled free blacks to assume a significant degree of political power in the former states of the rebellion.
