When Republicans Were Radical: Re: Re: Good stuff

» Brian Tubbs - Re: Re: Good stuff

In response to message posted by historygeek:

I agree with you. Lincoln would almost certainly been able to work effectively with the Republicans in Congress. Reconstruction would probably have been a bit tougher on the South than Lincoln would have wanted. But I don't think there would've been that hiatus period immediately after the Civil War, when Johnson and the Republicans had a standoff of sorts - and left the South pretty much to their own. As it was, Reconstruction went almost from one extreme to the other in a relatively short period of time.

The Republicans genuinely eyed Johnson with some suspicion. He was a Democrat at heart - and a southerner at that. His heart simply wasn't in Reconstruction. He wanted the South restored as quickly and as painlessly as possible. The Republicans didn't simply want to punish the South (though this was admittedly the motive of many of the Radicals), but they wanted to reshape the South's culture and economy in such a way that a future breakup of the Union wouldn't be likely. Lincoln would have bridged the gap between Johnson and the Republicans in Congress. But that was not to be.

-- posted by Brian Tubbs