Talk:Radical Republican (USA)

message: Shouldn't the words "Carpetbaggers" and "Scalawags" be in quotations, since these are not neutral words but pejorative terms used by some ex-confederates to describe northerners and pro-Union southerners, respectively? Bds yahoo 03:05, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Carpetbaggers and scalawags are the terms historians today all use, without quote marks. Rjensen 03:24, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

message: Huh? Grant was no radical at all in fact he was oppossed by the liberals in 1872. Who wrote this article? It's POV! YankeeRoman(24.75.194.50 18:20, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Grant was a radical republican--see the biographies.  It's famous how Sumner broke with the other radicals in 1872 and opposed Grant. Rjensen 21:50, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The Liberals of 1872 OPPOSED the Radicals. Rjensen 23:32, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

text: please note that the DEMOCRATS endorsed Greeley and the Liberal ticket and bitterly fought Grant's reelection. Were the Democrats radicals too??? Rjensen 00:02, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

text: I agree; the article is misleading and POV. It's ironic that it accuses Reconstruction governments for "governing without the consent of the governed", since the Redeemers disfranchised African Americans, but counted on their population in apportionment and of course expected them to pay taxes.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Parkwells (talk • contribs) 19:50, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

text: Grant was not Radical Republican. Moderates "aligned with Grant as a way of weakening Radical influence within state parties." The Radical Republicans wanted him to run on an "outspoken radical platform", but that didn't happen. The platform was "far more conservative than expected". Foner, Reconstruction, pp.337-338.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Parkwells (talk • contribs) 18:21, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  US Grant the leading radical? 

message: I agree with the radical republican's approach at reconstruction. They were more diciplining toward some people (like the leaders of secession), but more forgiving. Plus, they wanted freedom and equal rights for the African Americans!
Loveable-Book-Worm 22:56, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Radical's approach 

message: i am 14 years old, doing a paper on the reconstruction plans, and which one wwould've woked the best. the 10% plan (Lincoln's plan), the radical republican's plan, or the restortion (president johnson's plan)
im almost done.
Princess-of-Endor 03:14, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  ok 

message: Here is my paper! it's done; 
~Social Studies Unit 6 Lesson 10~
~Reconstruction~
I find the plan of the radical republicans best for America’s reconstruction. They believe in freedom rights for African Americans, amnesty for the south and a better future for the country.
The radical republicans’ view on African Americans was of sympathy and a desire to help. They ratified the 14th amendment (which grants civil rights to the African Americans) and the 15th amendment (which prohibits denial of rights to vote based on race). Another thing they saw to was the passing of the civil rights act of 1866. This act gave freedom and citizenship to African Americans. Plus, it gave the federal government the power to protect the African Americans and their rights.
As well as supporters of colored people, they were supporters of reuniting the north and south halves of America. They were ready and willing to forgive and pardon the south, and 50% of the southern voters had to swear an oath of loyalty to the union. During the civil war, the southerners were starving. There was no food being imported from the north. To be back in the union, would mean a bigger, stronger country. In the near future, they would be the strongest, most flourishing nation in the world.
The future of the nation as one union has come to be what the radical republicans had hoped. The problems with the other plans had a great deal to do with freedom of African Americans. The 10% plan (Lincoln’s plan) read that once 10% of the southern voters took an oath of loyalty, they would be offered amnesty and the state could adopt a new government and constitution that banned slavery. Although he offered forgiveness to the south and rights to African Americans, he wasn’t going to force the south to give freedom and rights to slaves held by white men.  The restoration (President Johnson’s plan), would give most southern voters (including the ex-confederates) who swore an oath of loyalty a pardon and it refused rights and freedom to African Americans. He believed that that the south should be ‘led by white men’.
The radical republicans’ plan proved to me to be the most forgiving, sympathetic, and sensible. The whole world has different opinions. Only when we come together are the right choices picked. Like the civil rights act of 1866. It took years of fighting before the people all came together, and discussed the issues. Even afterward it took years for the people of the north and south, or the white and black to finally see eye to eye. We can only hope that we see an improving nation by coming together as they did in our American history.
Princess-of-Endor 03:42, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Restoration 

message: Lede says:
:The Radical Republicans were the remaining faction of American politicians within the Republican party during the American Civil War and Reconstruction following  an 1864 exodus of pro-Lincoln Republicans  into the creation of the National Union Party. John C. Frémont was briefly the U.S. presidential candidate of the Radical Republicans.
If they did not exist until after 1864, they could not run a candidate in 1856. Radical Republican is an umbrella term (often used pejoratively) for at least 3 stages in life of the early Republican party.  1st> for those who wanted to move fastest towards abolition, 2> for those who wanted to move fastest towards voting rights for blacks, and 3rd> for those who wanted to deal harshly with ex-CSA states during Reconstruction. THe term may have been applied derogatorily to ALL Republicans at first, even the ones who wanted only a gradual elimination of slavery. Contemporaneous usage of the term will need to be cited for each of the 3 stages of its usage  --JimWae 06:26, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lede is self-contradictory 

message: Under the Bibliography there is a purported link to the online edition of Hans Trefousse's biography of Thaddeus Stevens, however, the link jumps to Trefousse's bio of Andrew Johnson. The original poster/author of the entry may have the original, and correct, link. If it is not corrected then this link should be removed.
LAWinans (talk) 23:55, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bibliography - Inaccurate Link 

message: Definitely no, according to the works by basically all the important historians since 1960. The influence of moderate Republicans like Trumbull or Fessenden especially in the Years 1867 and 1868 is stressed e.g. by McKitrick (1960). According to him they were responsible for the formulation of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill 1866 and for the overriding of Johnsons Veto. BTW the passage "When they discovered his ambivalence on key issues by his veto of Civil Rights Act of 1866, they overrode his veto." is utter nonsense apart from that it does not say what the ambivalence was. The Radicals would have voted against the veto no matter how the veto message of Johnson looked like but it was the votes of the Moderates that helped the Republicans to override the veto of the president in that case (unlike in the case of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill a few weeks earlier when the votes of the Radicals were not enough to override Johnson's veto).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Flohru (talk • contribs) 13:58, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Did the Radical Republicans really lead the Reconstruction of the South? 

message: During the Civil War and Reconstruction, Radicals were only a faction of the Republican party, as this article points out early on. But the text itself never distinguishes clearly between Radicals and the Republican party as a whole. This confusion makes it very misleading in several instances: Grant was not a Radical, nor the Radicals' choice for the Presidency; he was however supported by them when he won the nomination. Radicals were an important force in the Republican party, but they never controlled it. Nor were they ever able to pass legislation without the vote of the Moderates in the party. See M. L. Benedict's works on that. See also E. Foner's Reconstruction.
In my opinion, then, an article about Radical Republicans should be limited to that specific group.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.157.151.231 (talk) 16:16, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think this is misleading, too, as the comments above, show. There is a similar broad brushing of Republicans as all Radical Republicans in the Reconstruction article, which at one point tried to claim Grant as a Radical Republican. This should be an article that addresses only them, and from comments, Fremont can't be considered one in 1854!--Parkwells (talk) 20:24, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Grant was ambiguous in 1868, but as soon as he became president he became the most important Radical--although of course not in Congress.  The Radicals have to be contrasted with their opponents (the Radical and moderate GOP wings sometimes cooperated and sometimes disagreed. The Democrats always fought the Radicals) Many--probnably most--ex-radicals joined the "Stalwart" cause and supported Grant for president in 1880.Rjensen (talk) 09:12, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusion between "Radical Republicans" and "Republicans" 

message: "Consent of the governed" (from Declaration of Independence) meant that the people could vote. That was a central idea for Sumner and most abolitionists (who applied it to freedmen). The 1872 amnesty primarily restored the right to vote (and to hold office) to ex-Confederates. Rjensen (talk) 08:25, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Consent and amnesty