Seymour Stedman
Encyclopedia
Seymour Stedman was a prominent civil liberties lawyer and a leader of the Socialist Party of America
. He is best remembered as the 1920 Vice Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America
, when he ran for office on a ticket headed by Eugene V. Debs
.
on July 4, 1871, the son of ethnic Anglo-Saxon parents with ancestors dating back to the time of the American Revolution
. Financial difficulties forced the Stedman family to move west, settling in Solomon, Kansas
, where adverse weather conditions forced the family still further towards poverty. Young Seymour was forced to drop out of school in the third grade to take a job tending sheep
for $5 a month as a way of helping his family make ends meet.
The Stedman family moved to Chicago in 1881 and Seymour took a job for a manufacturing company, working as a uniformed messenger boy. Stedman later took a job as a janitor for another Chicago firm, an occupation which allowed him ample time for reading in his spare time. During the course of his reading, Stedman became interested in political ideas for the first time and he frequently debated the problems of the world with friends. As a byproduct of his reading and discussions, Stedman became an adherent of the Single Tax system
advocated by Henry George
, a reform program
then in popular vogue.
In 1889 Stedman decided that he wanted to be a lawyer
. He approached the dean
of the Northwestern University School of Law
and told him of his desires, admitting that he had had only three years of formal education. After grilling the youth for an hour to determine Stedman's level of reading capability and intelligence, the dean relented and admitted Stedman to the university. Stedman continued to work as a janitor during the day and attended university lectures in the evening. Stedman was ultimately admitted to the Illinois State Bar Association
in 1891.
In 1890 the precocious Stedman decided that he wanted to become a public orator on behalf of the Democratic Party
. He honed his skill speaking before the public, specializing in matters dealing with tariff
legislation. His development as an aspiring Democratic politician came to an end in 1894, however, when the great strike
of the American Railway Union
headed by Eugene V. Debs
, centered in Chicago and which Stedman supported as an official public speaker of the union, was crushed by judicial injunction and federal troops sent into Illinois by President Grover Cleveland
. Stedman left the ranks of the Democratic Party in protest over this heavy-handed action of the Democratic President.
In the aftermath of the defeated strike, Gene Debs was incarcerated for six months at Woodstock Jail in Chicago, where he was turned to the doctrine of socialism
by the jailhouse visits of Milwaukee newspaper editor Victor L. Berger
. Stedman would not be far behind the union leader, following a brief stint in the People's Party as a radical populist.
Stedman was elected to the 1896 National Convention of the People's Party, held in St. Louis, where he attempted to start a movement among the delegates to draft Gene Debs as the nominee of the organization for President of the United States
. Nearly one-third of the 1300 assembled delegates signed a petition calling for Debs which Stedman circulated. Stedman's effort was short-circuited by a trick of the supporters of William Jennings Bryant, however, when the gas lights were shut out on the convention. The following day a statement by Debs was read to the convention indicating that he had no desire to run for President and the bid was over, leaving Stedman to support Bryan in the 1896 campaign.
In 1897 Victor Berger decided to work at converting the Social Democracy of America
, an organization established with the goal of constructing a socialist colony in some western American state, into a full-fledged socialist political party. He gathered together Debs, Stedman, and others for this cause, which came to a climax at the heated June 1898 convention of the organization. The battle over the main question of colonization versus independent political action was won by the colonization faction by a vote of 53 to 37, a result which caused Berger, Debs, Stedman, and their co-thinkers bolted the convention to establish a new political organization of their own — the Social Democratic Party of America
(SDP).
Stedman was a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SDP from 1898. When after much acrimonious debate that organization merged with a similarly-named Eastern organization headed by Henry Slobodin and Morris Hillquit
to form the Socialist Party of America
(SPA) in 1901, Stedman became a founding member of that organization as well.
Stedman's name was offered for nomination for Vice President of the United States
at the SPA's 1908 Convention in Chicago, but he trailed Benjamin Hanford
for the honor, losing by a vote of 106 to 46.
In 1913 he was their candidate for Mayor of Chicago
and in 1920 for Vice President of the United States
, running on a ticked headed by Eugene V. Debs
. During World War I
he was a prominent defender of war opponents indicted for sedition
, most notably Rose Pastor Stokes
.
During the 1920s, Stedman was briefly a member of the Workers Party of America
.
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
. He is best remembered as the 1920 Vice Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
, when he ran for office on a ticket headed by Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
.
Early years
Seymour Stedman was born in Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
on July 4, 1871, the son of ethnic Anglo-Saxon parents with ancestors dating back to the time of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Financial difficulties forced the Stedman family to move west, settling in Solomon, Kansas
Solomon, Kansas
Solomon is a city in Dickinson and Saline counties in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,095. The Saline County portion of Solomon is part of the Salina Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, where adverse weather conditions forced the family still further towards poverty. Young Seymour was forced to drop out of school in the third grade to take a job tending sheep
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
for $5 a month as a way of helping his family make ends meet.
The Stedman family moved to Chicago in 1881 and Seymour took a job for a manufacturing company, working as a uniformed messenger boy. Stedman later took a job as a janitor for another Chicago firm, an occupation which allowed him ample time for reading in his spare time. During the course of his reading, Stedman became interested in political ideas for the first time and he frequently debated the problems of the world with friends. As a byproduct of his reading and discussions, Stedman became an adherent of the Single Tax system
Georgism
Georgism is an economic philosophy and ideology that holds that people own what they create, but that things found in nature, most importantly land, belong equally to all...
advocated by Henry George
Henry George
Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...
, a reform program
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
then in popular vogue.
In 1889 Stedman decided that he wanted to be a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
. He approached the dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
and told him of his desires, admitting that he had had only three years of formal education. After grilling the youth for an hour to determine Stedman's level of reading capability and intelligence, the dean relented and admitted Stedman to the university. Stedman continued to work as a janitor during the day and attended university lectures in the evening. Stedman was ultimately admitted to the Illinois State Bar Association
Illinois State Bar Association
The Illinois State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the country. Approximately 30,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in...
in 1891.
Political career
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He honed his skill speaking before the public, specializing in matters dealing with tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
legislation. His development as an aspiring Democratic politician came to an end in 1894, however, when the great strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
of the American Railway Union
American Railway Union
The American Railway Union , was the largest labor union of its time, and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. It was founded on June 20, 1893, by railway workers gathered in Chicago, Illinois, and under the leadership of Eugene V...
headed by Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
, centered in Chicago and which Stedman supported as an official public speaker of the union, was crushed by judicial injunction and federal troops sent into Illinois by President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
. Stedman left the ranks of the Democratic Party in protest over this heavy-handed action of the Democratic President.
In the aftermath of the defeated strike, Gene Debs was incarcerated for six months at Woodstock Jail in Chicago, where he was turned to the doctrine of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
by the jailhouse visits of Milwaukee newspaper editor Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
. Stedman would not be far behind the union leader, following a brief stint in the People's Party as a radical populist.
Stedman was elected to the 1896 National Convention of the People's Party, held in St. Louis, where he attempted to start a movement among the delegates to draft Gene Debs as the nominee of the organization for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. Nearly one-third of the 1300 assembled delegates signed a petition calling for Debs which Stedman circulated. Stedman's effort was short-circuited by a trick of the supporters of William Jennings Bryant, however, when the gas lights were shut out on the convention. The following day a statement by Debs was read to the convention indicating that he had no desire to run for President and the bid was over, leaving Stedman to support Bryan in the 1896 campaign.
In 1897 Victor Berger decided to work at converting the Social Democracy of America
Social Democracy of America
The Social Democracy of America , later known as the Co-operative Brotherhood, was a short lived party in the United States that sought to combine the planting of an intentional community with political action in order to create a socialist society...
, an organization established with the goal of constructing a socialist colony in some western American state, into a full-fledged socialist political party. He gathered together Debs, Stedman, and others for this cause, which came to a climax at the heated June 1898 convention of the organization. The battle over the main question of colonization versus independent political action was won by the colonization faction by a vote of 53 to 37, a result which caused Berger, Debs, Stedman, and their co-thinkers bolted the convention to establish a new political organization of their own — the Social Democratic Party of America
Social Democratic Party (United States)
The Social Democratic Party of America was a short-lived political party in the United States, established in 1898. The group was formed out of elements of the Social Democracy of America , and was a predecessor to the Socialist Party of America, established in 1901.-Forerunners:Following the...
(SDP).
Stedman was a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SDP from 1898. When after much acrimonious debate that organization merged with a similarly-named Eastern organization headed by Henry Slobodin and Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
to form the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
(SPA) in 1901, Stedman became a founding member of that organization as well.
Stedman's name was offered for nomination for Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
at the SPA's 1908 Convention in Chicago, but he trailed Benjamin Hanford
Benjamin Hanford
Benjamin Hanford was an American politician during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He made two unsuccessful runs for the post of Vice President of the United States, as Eugene Debs' running mate as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party, in 1904 and 1908.-Early life:Benjamin Hanford...
for the honor, losing by a vote of 106 to 46.
In 1913 he was their candidate for Mayor of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and in 1920 for Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, running on a ticked headed by Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he was a prominent defender of war opponents indicted for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, most notably Rose Pastor Stokes
Rose Pastor Stokes
Rose Harriet Pastor Stokes was a Jewish-American socialist activist, writer, birth control advocate, and feminist. She was active in labor politics and women's issues, and was a founding member of the Communist Party of America in 1919. She was a figure of some public notoriety for having married...
.
During the 1920s, Stedman was briefly a member of the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
.
Works
- Socialist Senatorial Nominating Speeches: Barney Berlyn Nominated by Seymour Stedman, Duncan McDonald nominated by C.M. Madsen: A Clear Statement of the Purpose and Policy of the Socialist Party. Chicago : Socialist Party, 1913.
- Issues of 1914. With others. Chicago: Campaign Committee of Cook County Socialist Party, 1914.
- Socialism and Peace. Wwith Oliver WilsonOliver WilsonOliver John Wilson is an English professional golfer.Wilson was born in Mansfield, England, where his golfing career began at Coxmoor Golf Club....
. Chicago: Socialist Party of Illinois, 1917. - The Debs case; a complete history. (with Eugene V. DebsEugene V. DebsEugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
) Chicago, Ill, Socialist Party, National Office, 1919.
Additional reading
- Robert Minor, Stedman's Red Raid. Cleveland, OH: Toiler Publishing Association, May 1921.