Why Were The Radical Republicans Radical?

[My Name Is Kate]

It seems there is no middle ground when it comes to Lincoln: he is portrayed as either a saint or a devil.

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v07/v07p319_Dickson.html

After reading the above article, and if what is said in the article is true, I can see why the South didn't trust Lincoln. It does appear that he was committed to ending slavery before he was ever elected President, and he also wanted to impose even higher tariffs on the South, to the North's financial advantage. Was his commitment to end slavery also at least partially motivated by a desire to economically and politically (loss of their 3/5 slave "vote" advantage) subjugate the South to the North?

Is this true (at the beginning of section 4. Lincoln's Conduct of the War)?

"Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus throughout the nation. He assumed the power to close newspapers and in fact closed hundreds of them in the North which dared criticize his policies. He arrested elected officials, including former members of Congress, who opposed him..."

"...In Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, Northern troops fired on pro-Southern demonstrators, dispersed legislatures, expelled elected officials and otherwise demonstrated that no respect for constitutional rights or liberties would be shown during the course of the war..."

"...General Ewing's General Order Number 11 in Missouri was merely a taste of what was to come throughout the South. The most famous and widely known example of Northem atrocities was the campaign of General William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia. No portion of this country has ever felt the scourge of war like the State of Georgia experienced it..."

"...On November 15, 1864, the march of the Northern troops across Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah began. Sherman created a charred avenue over 40 miles wide, destroying all railroads, seizing all provisions, pillaging, plundering and burning. There was no military force available to obstruct his course."

Is it true that the majority of the deaths of Union soldiers held at the Andersonville Prison in Georgia were due to the North's refusal to allow food and medicine to be delivered to the prisoners? Was the North afraid that the South would use the provisions for their own soldiers?