Radical Republican

From Free net encyclopedia

The Radical Republicans were an influential faction of American politicians in the Republican party during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. They fought with moderate Republicans, especially presidents Abraham Lincoln and his successor Andrew Johnson. Using as a base the Joint Committee on Reconstruction the Radicals demanded a more aggressive prosecution of the war and the faster destruction of slavery and Confederate nationalism. After their victory in the Congressional elections of 1866 they finally had enough votes to enact their legislation over Johnson's vetoes. They replaced ex-Confederates with a Republican coalition of Freedmen, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags. From the 1890s to the 1950s they were denounced by historians of the Dunning School for being corrupt and violating the principles of self government. In recent years they have been in favor among Neoabolitionist historians.

Contents

[edit]

Wartime

After the 1860 elections, moderate Republicans dominated the United States Congress. Radical Republicans were often critical of Lincoln, whom they felt was too slow in freeing slaves and supporting their equality. Lincoln put all factions in his cabinet, including Radicals like Salmon P. Chase (Secretary of the Treasury), whom he later appointed to the Supreme Court; and James Speed (Attorney General). Edwin M. Stanton, the (Secretary of War), started as a leading Democrat but by 1864 was in the Radical camp, though he remained a staunch supporter of Lincoln. An important opponent of the Radicals was Henry Jarvis Raymond, editor of the New York Times and chairman of the Republican National Committee. In Congress the most influential Radicals during the war and Reconstruction were Senator Charles Sumner and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. They led the call for a total war, one that would destroy the economic base of the rebellion by freeing the slaves.

[edit]

Reconstruction

During Reconstruction, Radical Republicans increasingly took control, led by Sumner and Stevens. They demanded harsher measures in the South, and more protection for the Freedmen, and more guarantees that the Confederate nationalism was totally eliminated. Following Lincoln's assassination in 1865, Andrew Johnson, a former War Democrat, became President. The Radicals at first admired his hard line talk, but soon discovered his lenience toward the South when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over Johnson's veto — the first time that Congress had overridden a President on an important bill.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 made African Americans American citizens and forbade discrimination against them, with enforcement in federal courts. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution (with its equal protection clause) was the work of a coalition of moderate and Radical Republicans. The Radical Republicans led the Reconstruction of the South and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. They elected Ulysses S. Grant president in 1868, and he strongly supported their programs. Grant used federal power to shut down the Ku Klux Klan. By 1872 the Liberal Republicans thought that Reconstruction had succeeded and should end. They lost as Grant was reelected. In state after state in the south, the Redeemers movement seized control from the Republicans, until only three were left in 1876, South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. Rutherford B. Hayes was a moderate Republican and when he became president after the Compromise of 1877, he removed federal troops and Redeemers took over. Liberal Republicans (in 1872) and Democrats argued the Radical Republicans were corrupt, in two senses: they accepted bribes (notably in the Grant Administration), and they violated the republican principle of government by the consent of the governed. Even supporters agree much of their motivation was political (creating a constituency beholden to the Republicans). Their goals (of civil rights and equal treatment for African-Americans following emancipation) were hailed by neoabolitionist historians who came of age in the 1960s and after, who charged that racism itself was the worst form of corruption and violation of republicanism.

[edit]

Leading Radical Republicans

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Secondary sources

  • Belz, Herman. Emancipation and Equal Rights: Politics and Constitutionalism in the Civil War Era (1978), pro-moderate.
  • Belz, Herman. A New Birth of Freedom: The Republican Party and Freedman's Rights, 1861-1866 (2000) pro-moderate.
  • Benedict, Michael Les. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1999), pro-Radical.
  • Castel, Albert E. The Presidency of Andrew Johnson (1979), balanced.
  • Donald, David. Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man (1970) Major critical analysis. balanced perspective
  • Donald, David. "Lincoln" (1996). pro-moderate.
  • Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt. Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 (1935), Marxist interepretation by leading Black scholar.
  • Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005), pro-moderate.
  • Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (2002), major synthesis; takes Neoabolitionist viewpoint of Freedmen.
  • Harris, William C. With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union (1997) Lincoln as moderate and opponent of Radicals.
  • Hesseltine; William B. Ulysses S. Grant: Politician (1935), postwar years.
  • McFeeley, William S. Grant: A Biography (1981).
  • McKitrick, Eric L. Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction (1961).
  • Nevins, Allan. Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1936)
  • Randall, James G. Lincoln the President: Last Full Measure (1955) pro-moderate.
  • Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 7 (1920)
  • Stampp, Kenneth M. The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (1967); pro-Radical Neoabolitionist overview.
  • Simpson, Brooks D. Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991).
  • Simpson, Brooks D. The Reconstruction Presidents (1998)
  • Summers, Mark Wahlgren.The Press Gang: Newspapers and Politics, 1865-1878 (1994)
  • Trefousse, Hans. The Radical Republicans (1969) pro-Radical
  • Trefousse, Hans L. Thaddeus Stevens: Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian (2001)]. Standard biography; pro-Radical Neoabolitionist
  • Williams, T. Harry. Lincoln and the Radicals (1941) anti-Radical
[edit]

Primary sources

  • Harper's Weekly news magazine
  • Fleming, Walter L. Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, and Industrial (1906) anti-radical.
  • Hyman, Harold M., ed. The Radical Republicans and Reconstruction, 1861-1870. (1967), pro-radical.
Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Radical_Republican"