When Republicans Were Radical

Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was once described as “an alien enemy of a foreign state” and “an insolent drunken brute.“ These words were not used by the Democrats, but by a faction of Johnson’s own party, the Republicans. Known as the Radical Republicans, Johnson battled with them throughout his administration and they were a continual thorn in his side. It was though efforts by the Radicals in Congress that Johnson was almost removed from office.

Composed mainly of pre-war abolitionists, the Radical Republicans wanted to punish the South for the horrors of slavery and for four years of civil war. They were led in the House by Thaddeus Stevens and George W. Julian and in the Senate men like Charles Sumner, Benjamin F. Wade, and Zachariah Chandler provided leadership. They had strongly disagreed with Lincoln’s program for Reconstruction maintaining it was much too lenient.

In December 1863, Abraham Lincoln had drafted a program designed to reconstruct the South. Known as the “Ten Percent” plan, it offered a pardon to all Southerners (except Confederate leaders) who took a loyalty oath. When ten percent of that state’s voters had taken the oath, they could establish a new state government. The Radicals strongly opposed this plan and drafted their own course of action, the Wade-Davis bill. This bill, which was vetoed by Lincoln, proposed to delay the formation of new Southern governments until a majority of voters had taken the oath, and equal rights for former slaves must accompany the South’s re-admission to the Union.

Unfortunately, Lincoln never received an opportunity to implement his program since he was cut down by an assassin's bullet in 1865. Thus, vice-president Andrew Johnson was thrust into the presidency. Johnson, a southerner from Tennessee, began his term with a violent denunciation of all rebels as “traitors” who “ought to be hanged.” He resented the so-called slaveocracy of the South who had embraced secession and he identified himself as a champion of the common people. In fact Johnson had defied the Confederacy in 1861 by remaining in Washington as the only Southern senator. The Radicals at first were overjoyed. It seemed finally they had a President who was going to carry out their agenda. However, Johnson proceeded with what he believed were Lincoln’s wishes and policies.

In May 1865, Johnson initiated his reconstruction plan and offered pardons to all southern whites except Confederate leaders and wealthy planters. Even though he eventually did grant pardons to the planters, he assumed the yeoman farmer would replace their role in southern politics. He appointed provisional governors and outlined steps that needed to be taken in order to create new state governments. Under Johnson’s program, as long as the states abolished slavery, renounced secession, and nullified the Confederate debt, the governors had a free hand to manage their own affairs. As a result members of the old elite were restored to power after Southern elections were held and Johnson did not interfere.

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