Editing Radical Republicans (section)

{{short description|Faction of the 19th-century U.S. Republican Party}}
{{About|the 19th century abolitionist faction|the modern movement made up largely of [[Factions in the Republican Party (United States)|ultraconservatives in the Republican Party]]|Radical right (United States)|other uses|Radical Republicans (disambiguation)}}
{{use American English|date=September 2024}}
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode        = #CF1021
| name             = Radical Republicans
| leader1_title    = Leader(s)
| leader1_name     = • [[John C. Frémont]]<br>• [[Benjamin Wade]]<br>• [[Henry Winter Davis]]<br>• [[Charles Sumner]]<br>• [[Thaddeus Stevens]]<br>• [[Hannibal Hamlin]]<br>• [[Ulysses S. Grant]]<br>• [[Schuyler Colfax]]
| foundation       = [[History of the Republican Party (United States)#Beginnings: 1854–1860|1854]]
| dissolution      = [[Compromise of 1877|1877]]
| successor        = certain factions became the [[Stalwarts (politics)|Stalwart]] faction of the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]
| merged           = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]
| ideology         = [[Radicalism in the United States|Radicalism]]<br>[[Abolitionism in the United States|Abolitionism]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Radical Republican|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Radical-Republican|access-date=June 13, 2022|website=britannica.com|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|quote=Radical Republican, during and after the American Civil War, a member of the Republican Party committed to emancipation of the slaves and later to the equal treatment and enfranchisement of the freed blacks.|language=en-US}}</ref><br>{{nowrap|[[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]]}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=30 June 2021|title=The Radical Republicans|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/radical-republicans|access-date=June 13, 2022|website=battlefields.org|publisher=American Battlefield Trust|quote=As the end of the war drew near, the Radicals strongly disagreed with President Lincoln’s proposed post-war Reconstruction plans. Whereas Lincoln wanted to peacefully recreate coexistence between the Union and the Confederate States, the Radical Republicans felt that the rebel states needed a strong hand of justice and the administration of harsh punishments for their actions.|language=en-US}}</ref><br>[[Union (American Civil War)|Unconditional unionism]]<br>[[Developmentalism]]<ref>Foner, pp. 44, 429</ref><br>[[Free labor]] ideology<ref>Foner, p. 26</ref>
| national         = [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]
| country          = United States
}}
 
The '''Radical Republicans''' were a [[political faction]] within the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] originating from [[History of the Republican Party (United States)#Beginnings: 1854–1860|the party's founding]] in 1854—some six years before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]—until the [[Compromise of 1877]], which effectively ended [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]]. They called themselves "Radicals" because of their goal of immediate, complete, and permanent eradication of [[slavery in the United States]]. However, the Radical faction also included strong currents of [[Nativism in United States politics|nativism]], [[anti-Catholicism in the United States|anti-Catholicism]], and support for the [[prohibition]] of [[alcoholic beverage]]s. These policy goals and the rhetoric in their favor often made it extremely difficult for the Republican Party as a whole to avoid alienating large numbers of American voters of [[Irish Catholic]], [[German-American|German]], and other [[White ethnic]] backgrounds. In fact, even German-American [[Freethinkers]] and [[Forty-Eighters]] who, like [[Hermann Raster]], otherwise sympathized with the Radical Republicans' aims, fought them tooth and nail over prohibition. They later became known as "[[Stalwarts (politics)|Stalwarts]]".<ref>John G. Sproat, "'Old Ideals' and 'New Realities' in the Gilded Age," ''Reviews in American History'', Vol. 1, No. 4 (Dec., 1973), pp. 565–570</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Riddleberger |first=Patrick W. |title=The Break in the Radical Ranks: Liberals vs Stalwarts in the Election of 1872 |journal=The Journal of Negro History |volume=44 |number=2 |date=April 1959 |pages=136–157 |jstor=2716035 |doi=10.2307/2716035 |s2cid=149957268 }}</ref>

The Radicals were opposed during the war by the [[Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era)|Moderate Republicans]] (led by President [[Abraham Lincoln]]), and by the [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]]. Radicals led efforts after the war to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation. After unsuccessful measures in 1866 resulted in violence against former slaves in the former rebel states, Radicals pushed the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] for statutory protections through [[United States Congress|Congress]]. They opposed allowing ex-[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] politicians and military veterans to retake political power in the [[Southern U.S.]], and emphasized equality, [[civil rights]] and [[voting rights]] for the "[[Freedman#United States|freedmen]]", i.e., former slaves who had been freed during or after the Civil War by the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] and the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Hans|last=Trefousse|title=Historical Dictionary of Reconstruction|year=1991|pages=175–176}}</ref>

During the war, Radicals opposed Lincoln's initial selection of General [[George B. McClellan]] for top command of the major eastern [[Army of the Potomac]] and Lincoln's efforts in 1864 to bring seceded Southern states back into the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] as quickly and easily as possible. Lincoln later recognized McClellan as unfit and relieved him of his command. The Radicals tried passing their own [[Wade–Davis Bill|Reconstruction plan]] through Congress in 1864. Lincoln vetoed it, as he was putting his own policy in effect through his power as military commander-in-chief. Lincoln was [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassinated]] in April 1865.<ref>William C. Harris, ''With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union'' (1997), pp. 123–170.</ref> Radicals demanded for the uncompensated abolition of slavery, while Lincoln wished instead to partially emulate the [[British Empire]]'s abolition of slavery by financially compensating former slave owners who had remained loyal to the Union. The Radicals, led by [[Thaddeus Stevens]], bitterly fought Lincoln's successor, [[Andrew Johnson]]. After Johnson vetoed various congressional acts favoring citizenship for freedmen, a much harsher Reconstruction for the defeated South, and other bills he considered unconstitutional, the Radicals attempted to remove him from office through [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]], which [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|failed by one vote in 1868]].

During the Reconstruction period, Radical Republicans supported prolabor legislation, in contrast to conservative Democrats and Liberal Republicans.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Second_American/IRHHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=radical+republicans+prolabor+legislation&pg=PT350&printsec=frontcover The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920  By Manisha Sinha, 2024 ]</ref>