Moderate Republicans were a faction of American politicians within theRepublican Party from theparty's founding before theAmerican Civil War in 1854 until the end ofReconstruction in theCompromise of 1877. They were known for their loyal support of PresidentAbraham Lincoln's war policies and opposed the more militant stances advocated by theRadical Republicans.[1] According to historianEric Foner, congressional leaders of the faction wereJames G. Blaine,John A. Bingham,William P. Fessenden,Lyman Trumbull, andJohn Sherman.[2] Their constituencies were primarily residents of states outsideNew England, where Radical Republicanism garnered insufficient support. They included "Conservative Republicans" and the moderateLiberal Republicans, later also known as "Half-Breeds".[3]
During the1864 United States presidential election, amidst the backdrop of the ongoing Civil War, moderate Republicans supported merging the Republican Party with theWar Democrats (Democrats who supported the continuation of the Union war effort) to form theNational Union Party alliance. At theRepublican National Convention (which operated under the name of the "National Union National Convention" that year), they spearheaded the effort to replace Lincoln's vice presidentHannibal Hamlin with Tennessee DemocratAndrew Johnson, acting out of the belief that placing a War Democrat on the presidential ticket would solidify support to ensure Lincoln's re-election.[4]
Moderate Republicans were less enthusiastic than Radical Republicans about Black suffrage, even though they otherwise embraced civil equality and the expansion of federal authority during theAmerican Civil War.[2] They were also skeptical of the lenient, conciliatory Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson. Some moderate Republicans were previously Radical Republicans who became disenchanted with the alleged corruption of the latter faction.[1]Charles Sumner, aMassachusetts senator who led Radical Republicans in the 1860s, later joined reform-minded moderates as he later opposed the corruption associated with theGrant administration.