n's course was distasteful to
them because he did not admit the right of Congress to dictate terms,
because of his liberal attitude towards former Confederates, and because
he was conservative on the Negro question. A schism among the Republican
supporters of the war was with difficulty averted in 1864, when Fremont
threatened to lead the radicals in opposition to the "Union" party of
the President and his conservative policy.

The breach was widened by the refusal of Congress to admit
representatives from Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864 and to count the
electoral vote of Louisiana and Tennessee in 1865. The passage of the
Wade-Davis reconstruction bill in July 1864, and the protests of its
authors after Lincoln's pocket veto called attention to the growing
opposition. Severe criticism caused Lincoln to withdraw the propositions
which he had made in April 1865, with regard to the restoration of
Virginia. In his last public speech, he referred with regret to
the growing spirit of vindictiveness toward the South. Much of the
opposition to Lincoln's Southern policy was based not on radicalism,
that is, not on any desire for a revolutionary change in the South, but
upon a belief that Congress and not the executive should be entrusted
with the work of reorganizing the Union. Many congressional leaders were
willing to have Congress itself carry through the very policies which
Lincoln had advocated, and a majority of the Northern people would have
endorsed them without much caring who was to execute them.

The murder of Lincoln, the failure of the radicals to shape Johnson's
policy as they had hoped, and the continuing reaction against the
excessive expansion of the executive power added strength to the
opposition. But it was a long fight before the radical leaders won.
Their victory was due to adroit tactics on their own part and to
mistakes, bad judgment, and bad manners on the part of the President.
When all hope of controlling Johnson had been given up, Thaddeus Stevens
and other leaders of similar views began to contrive means to circumvent
him. On December 1, 1865, before Congress met, a caucus of radicals held
in Washington agreed that a joint committee of the two Houses should be
selected to which should be referred matters relating to reconstruction.
This plan would thwart the more conservative Senate and gain a desirable
delay in which the radicals might develop their campaign. The next day
at a caucus of the Union p