Why Were The Radical Republicans Radical?

[JMadonna]

This culminated in the compromise of 1877. To resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876-which by comparison makes the 2000 election seem like a lovefest-Southern Democrats successfully demanded withdrawal of Federal troops from the few remaining states with Reconstruction governments in return for their accepting the election of the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president.

I believe that Southern Control was the gist of the agreement between Breckenridge & Sherman that would have ended the war in 1865