After the defeat of the South in the Civil War, Radical Republicans put forward a plan to reshape Southern society. Their plan faced fierce opposition from Democrats and from President Andrew Johnson. In this lesson, students will read speeches by Thaddeus Stevens and Johnson in order to explore why the Radical Republican plan was considered so “radical” at the time.
[Lesson Plan, PowerPoint, and Original Documents updated 11/18/14.]
Image: Extract from the reconstructed Constitution of Louisiana, with portraits of the members of the Convention & Assembly, 1868. From the Library of Congress.