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.
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 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.
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- Benjamin Butler : Massachusetts politician-soldier; hated by rebels for restoring control in New Orleans
- under Ulysses S. Grant.
- Salmon P. Chase : Senator from Ohio; Governor of Ohio; Treasury Secretary under President Lincoln; Supreme Court chief justice.
- Henry Winter Davis : Representative from Maryland
- James A. Garfield : Congressional leader; less radical than others; disliked Benjamin Wade.
- James H. Lane : Senator from Kansas
- Thaddeus Stevens : Radical leader in House; from Pennsylvania
- Charles Sumner : Senator from Massachusetts; dominant Radical leader in Senate; specialist in foreign affairs; broke with Grant in 1872
- of the Senate.
- under Grant
- 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
- ''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.
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