Stephen C. Stevens (c. 1793 – November 7, 1870)Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt,
Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices
, ''

Indiana Law Review Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is the law school of Indiana University Indianapolis, a public research university in Indianapolis, Indiana. The school has been based in Lawrence W. Inlow Hall in Indianapolis ...

'', Vol. 30, No. 1 (1997), section reproduced i
Indiana Courts Justice Biographies page
was an American

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

who served in the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House mem ...

, the

Indiana Senate The Indiana State Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year ...

, and as a Justice on the

Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana Statehouse. In Dec ...

Biography

Early life and education

Born in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

in about 1793, Stevens moved to

Brookville, Indiana Brookville is a town in Brookville Township, Franklin County, Indiana, United States. The town is the county seat of and the largest community entirely within Franklin County. The population was 2,596 at the 2010 census. History Brookville was ...

sometime before 1812. In Brookville, Stevens worked a variety of jobs, including as a

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

keeper and

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

. While working as a shopkeeper, he was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

for selling a tin pan to a Native American but the indictment was eventually

quash A motion to quash is a request to a court or other tribunal to render a previous decision or proceeding null or invalid. The exact usage of motions to quash depends on the rules of the particular court or tribunal. In some cases, motions to qua ...

ed. Stevens traveled to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

on business in 1814, during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Stevens ended up joining American soldiers under General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

, serving in the now-famous

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...

. During the battle Stevens was wounded in the head by a musket ball, an injury which would trouble him for the rest of his life.

Political career, judicial service, and later life

Stevens returned to Brookville after the war and began studying law, being admitted to the Indiana bar in 1817. Also in 1817, he represented Franklin County in the

Indiana General Assembly The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Sena ...

. During this brief first stint in the General Assembly, the famously short-tempered Stevens began a legal squabble with James Noble (one of Indiana's U.S. Senators at the time) which ended with the Franklin County

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

fining both men five-hundred dollars. Stevens moved to

Vevay, Indiana Vevay ( ) is a town located in Jefferson Township and the county seat of Switzerland County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,741 at the 2020 census. History The first settlers who arrived in 1802 were Swiss im ...

in 1817, where he helped to organize a local branch of the

state bank In Australia and the United States, a state bank in a federated state is usually a financial institution that is chartered by the government of that state, as opposed to one regulated at the federal or national level. In British English, the ter ...

. Stevens would serve as the branch's president until the bank failed, whereupon he returned to practicing law. Stevens returned to the state legislature in 1823, when he represented Switzerland County in the

. In 1824, Stevens became Speaker of Indiana House of Representatives before leaving the General Assembly again. He returned to represent Switzerland County in the House once more from 1826 to 1827. In 1828, he was elected to the

. He would serve as a senator until he was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

James B. Ray. Stevens served as a Justice of Indiana Supreme Court from 1831, succeeding the retiring Justice

James Scott James Scott may refer to: Entertainment * James Scott (composer) (1885–1938), African-American ragtime composer * James Scott (director) (born 1941), British filmmaker * James Scott (actor) (born 1979), British television actor * James Scott (Sh ...

. In 1836, Stevens resigned from the court to open a law office in

Madison, Indiana Madison is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. As of the 2010 United States Census its population was 11,967. Over 55,000 people live within of downtown Madison. Madison is the large ...

. He was succeeded by Justice Charles Dewey. Stevens was a prominent

, opposing and criticizing

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

throughout his life. He represented

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

in court several times. A resolution he drafted calling for the emancipation of slaves was later adopted by the New School Presbyterian Synod. Additionally, Stevens was the candidate of the abolitionist Liberty Party during the 1846 Indiana gubernatorial election.

Personal life and death

Stevens was a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and helped to found a local Masonic temple in Brookville in 1817. However, Stevens gave up Freemasonry when public opinion in the United States turned against the Masons following the widely publicized disappearance of William Morgan. Stevens would amass considerable wealth during his lucrative career as a collections attorney. However, he would lose all of his money following an unsuccessful investment in the burgeoning

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

industry in 1851 and 1852. After losing his fortune, Stevens began to suffer from

insanity Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...

and became deeply

delusional A delusion is a fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other ...

. He was admitted to the Indiana Hospital for the Insane in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. After an old friend, John Test, visited Stevens in the hospital and reported to Governor Conrad Baker about the former justice's poor mental state, Baker and his associates raised money to have a suit tailored and gifted to Stevens to commemorate his long and successful career in law. Stevens was moved by the present and gave a speech thanking those who gifted it to him. Days later, on November 7, 1870, Stevens died at the hospital at age 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Stephen 1790s births 1870 deaths Members of the Indiana House of Representatives American judges People from Brookville, Indiana Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court Liberty Party (United States, 1840) politicians American Freemasons People from Indiana Territory 19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly