ABSTRACT
The Civil War came to a close on April 9, 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Vice President Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln, and at first Republicans, who controlled both houses of Congress, expected an amiable relationship with the new president, even though he had been a Democrat. Johnson, an inveterate racist as well as a fervent states’ rights advocate, opposed civil rights for the freed slaves, which the Radical Republicans sought. The Democratic platform, designed to appeal to the South, lashed out against the Radical Republicans for “unparalleled oppression and tyranny” for subjecting ten former Confederate states to “military despotism and negro supremacy” after the Civil War. Republicans engaged in a tactic known as “waving the bloody shirt,” reminding voters of Republican sacrifice and courage and Democratic Copperhead perfidy during the war. Wealthy Americans such as the Vanderbilt family contributed mightily to the Republican campaign fund.
