Seymour Stedman
Seymour Stedman | |
---|---|
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 13th district | |
In office 1913–1915 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. | July 4, 1871
Died | July 9, 1948 Chicago, U.S. | (aged 77)
Political party | Socialist (1896–1948) Democratic (until 1894) |
Alma mater | Northwestern University |
Seymour "Stedy" Stedman (July 4, 1871 – July 9, 1948) was an American from Chicago who rose from shepherd and janitor to become 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.
Biography
Early years
Seymour Stedman was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 4, 1871, the son of ethnic Anglo-Saxon parents with ancestors dating back to the time of the American Revolution.[1] Financial difficulties forced the Stedman family to move west, settling in Solomon, Kansas, where adverse weather conditions forced the family still further towards poverty.[1] 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.[1]
The Stedman family moved to Chicago in 1881 and Seymour took a job for a manufacturing company, working as a uniformed messenger boy.[1] Stedman later took a job as a janitor for another Chicago firm, an occupation that allowed him ample time for reading. During the course of his reading, he became interested in political ideas for the first time and frequently debated the problems of the world with friends.[1] 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.[1]
In 1889 Stedman decided that he wanted to be a lawyer.
Political career
In 1890 the precocious Stedman decided that he wanted to become a public orator on behalf of the
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.[2] He was an early booster of Debs for President of the United States, helping to establish the "Central E.V. Debs Club" in Chicago on May 20, 1896, and being elected president of the new booster organization by the gathering.[3]
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.[4] Nearly one-third of the 1300 assembled delegates signed a petition calling for Debs that Stedman circulated.[5] His effort was short-circuited by a trick of the supporters of William Jennings Bryan, however, when the gas lights were shut out on the convention.[5] 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.[5]
In 1897 Victor Berger decided to work at converting the
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.[6]
Stedman's name was offered for nomination for
In 1915 Stedman was their candidate for Mayor of Chicago and in 1920 for Vice President of the United States, running on a ticket headed by Eugene V. Debs. During World War I Stedman was a prominent defender of war opponents indicted for sedition, most notably Rose Pastor Stokes.
During the
Death
Seymour Stedman died on July 9, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Alexander Trachtenberg (gen. ed.), A Political Guide for the Workers, 1920. Chicago: Socialist Party of the United States, 1920; p. 15.
- ^ a b c d e f g Trachtenberg, p. 16.
- ^ "Central Debs Club is Organized", Chicago Tribune, May 21, 1896, p. 7.
- ^ Trachtenberg, pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b c d e Trachtenberg, p. 17.
- ^ a b c Trachtenberg, p. 18.
- ^ Illinois Blue Book 1913-1914. p. 264.
- ^ Illinois Blue Book 1915-1916. p. 716. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
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. With Oliver Wilson. Chicago: Socialist Party of Illinois, 1917.
- The Debs case; a complete history (with Eugene V. Debs) Chicago, Ill, Socialist Party, National Office, 1919.
Further reading
- Robert Minor, Stedman's Red Raid. Cleveland, Ohio: Toiler Publishing Association, May 1921.