Editing Radical Republicans (section)

==Radical coalition==
[[File:Stevens thadee.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. Rep. [[Thaddeus Stevens]]]]

The Radicals were heavily influenced by religious ideals, and many were Protestant reformers who saw slavery as evil and the Civil War as God's punishment for slavery.<ref name="Howard2015">{{cite book|last=Howard|first=Victor B.|title=Religion and the Radical Republican Movement, 1860–1870|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bIfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|year=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-6144-0}}</ref>{{rp|1ff.}}
The term "[[Radicalism (historical)|radical]]" was in common use in the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War, referring not necessarily to abolitionists, but particularly to Northern politicians strongly opposed to the [[Slave Power]].{{sfnp|Trefousse|1969|p=20}} Many and perhaps a majority had been [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]], such as [[William H. Seward]],{{sfnp|Trefousse|1969|p=6}} a leading presidential contender in 1860 and Lincoln's Secretary of State, [[Thaddeus Stevens]] of Pennsylvania, as well as [[Horace Greeley]], editor of the ''New-York Tribune'', the leading Radical newspaper. There was movement in both directions: some of the pre-war Radicals (such as Seward) became less radical during the war, while some prewar moderates became Radicals. Some wartime Radicals had been Democrats before the war, often taking pro-slavery positions. They included [[John A. Logan]] of Illinois, [[Edwin Stanton]] of Ohio, [[Benjamin Butler (politician)|Benjamin Butler]] of Massachusetts, and Vice President Johnson; Johnson would break with the Radicals after he became president.
 
The Radicals came to majority power in Congress in the elections of 1866 after several episodes of violence led many to conclude that President Johnson's weaker reconstruction policies were insufficient. These episodes included the [[New Orleans riot]] and the [[Memphis riots of 1866]]. In a pamphlet directed to black voters in 1867, the Union Republican Congressional Committee stated:
{{blockquote|[T]he word Radical as applied to political parties and politicians&nbsp;... means one who is in favor of going to the root of things; who is thoroughly in earnest; who desires that slavery should be abolished, that every disability connected therewith should be obliterated''.''<ref>Pamphlet bound into {{cite book|last=Cullom|first=Shelby Moore|title=Speech of Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, on Reconstruction: Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 28, 1867|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNY9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PR70|year=1867|pages=1–2}}</ref>}}

The Radicals were never formally organized and there was movement in and out of the group. Their most successful and systematic leader was Pennsylvania Congressman [[Thaddeus Stevens]] in the House of Representatives. The Democrats were strongly opposed to the Radicals, but they were generally a weak minority in politics until they took control of the House in [[1874 and 1875 United States House of Representatives elections|the 1874 congressional elections]]. The "[[Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era)|Moderate]]" and "[[Conservative Republicans (Reconstruction era)|Conservative]]" Republican factions usually opposed the Radicals, but they were not well organized. Lincoln tried to build a multi-faction coalition, including Radicals, "Conservatives," "Moderates" and War Democrats as while he was often opposed by the Radicals, he never ostracized them. Andrew Johnson was thought to be a Radical when he became president in 1865,{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} but he soon became their leading opponent. However, Johnson could not form a cohesive support network. Finally in 1872, the [[Liberal Republican Party (United States)|Liberal Republicans]], who wanted a return to classical [[republicanism]],<ref name="Slap2010">{{cite book |last=Slap |first=Andrew L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fs5CNi0UhesC&pg=PR21 |title=The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8232-2711-2 |pages=21–}}</ref> ran a presidential campaign and won the support of the Democratic Party for their ticket. They argued that Grant and the Radicals were corrupt and had imposed Reconstruction far too long on the South. They were overwhelmingly defeated in the 1872 election and collapsed as a movement.

On issues not concerned with the destruction of the Confederacy, the eradication of slavery and the rights of Freedmen, Radicals took positions all over the political map. For example, Radicals who had once been Whigs generally supported high tariffs and ex-Democrats generally opposed them. Some men were for hard money and no inflation while others were for soft money and inflation. The argument, common in the 1930s, that the Radicals were primarily motivated by a desire to selfishly promote Northeastern business interests, has seldom been argued by historians for a half-century.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Coben |first=Stanley |date=June 1959 |title=Northeastern Business and Radical Reconstruction: A Re-examination |journal=Mississippi Valley Historical Review |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=67–90 |doi=10.2307/1892388 |jstor=1892388}}</ref> On foreign policy issues, the Radicals and moderates generally did not take distinctive positions.{{sfnp|Trefousse|1969|pp=21–32}}