Radical Republican

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The Radical Republicans were a faction of the Republican Party during the American Civil War and Reconstruction. Led by Senator Charles Sumner and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens they demanded, and sometimes got, more vigorous prosecution of the war against the Confederacy and a quicker end to slavery. They often opposed Abraham Lincoln, the leaders of the moderate republicans. The Radicals vehemently opposed President Andrew Johnson. They were reluctant to readmit the white South to full status during Reconstruction, and concentrated on giving civil rights, and the right to vote,, to Freedmen (freed slaves). After Reconstruction collapsed in 1877 they remaining Radicals formed the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party.