During the war , Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln 's initial selection of General George B. McClellan for top command of the major eastern Army of the Potomac and his efforts to bring seceded Southern states back into the Union as quickly and easily as possible . Lincoln later recognized McClellan 's weakness and relieved him of command . The Radicals passed their own reconstruction plan through the Congress in 1864 , but Lincoln vetoed it and was putting his own presidential policies in effect by virtue as military commander-in-chief when he was assassinated in April 1865 . Radicals pushed for the uncompensated abolition of slavery , while Lincoln wanted to pay slave owners who were loyal to the Union . After the war , the Radicals demanded civil rights for freed US slaves , including measures ensuring suffrage . They initiated the various Reconstruction Acts as well as the Fourteenth Amendment and limited political and voting rights for ex-Confederate civil officials and military officers . They keenly fought United States President Andrew Johnson , a former slave owner from Tennessee who favored allowing Southern states to decide the rights and status of former slaves . After Johnson vetoed various Congressional acts favoring civil rights for former slaves , they attempted to remove him from office through impeachment , which failed by one vote in 1868
assassinated
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Radical Republicans