Page "Radical Republican" Paragraph 3

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 the 1874 congressional elections.

The moderate and 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 ; 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, but he soon became their leading opponent.

Johnson, however, was so inept as a politician he was unable to form a cohesive support network.

Finally in 1872, the Liberal Republicans, most of them ex-radicals, 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 and collapsed as a movement.