Why Were The Radical Republicans Radical?

[Gene C]

Kate, I'm not totally sure, but many of the more radical republicans were not reelected in 68'. Now that the war had been over, people wanted to move on from those issues and focus on other things. A significant portion of the population realy didn't care if black men got the right to vote.

Johnsons years as president had been tough on the country. One of the main reasons Johnson kept his job - even though a large number of politiicains didn't like him, they liked Ben Wade (the person who would replace him as president if he was impeached) even less. Wade was one of those "radical republicans" not reelected in 68'. He had served 18 years in the senate.