"And yet, in their effusive praise of his character and the admission that Stevens “did good service in pushing Congress to the position which it finally took up” on Reconstruction, they reveal the contradiction: while radicals are essentially the authors of American progress, credit always goes to the compromising moderates. Such tension is inherent in Lincoln and in contemporary America’s general lack of appreciation for radicals, past and present, who have pushed the country towards those positions it finally, despite immense opposition, takes up."
—
Richard Kreitner in The Nation. 'Lincoln,’ Thaddeus Stevens and Why American Politics Still Needs Radicals
Both Lincoln and The Nation’s 1860s editors underestimated radicals’ contributions to abolitionism.
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