Editing Reconstruction era (section)

====Republicans split nationally: election of 1872====
{{Main|1872 United States presidential election}}
As early as 1868, Supreme Court Chief Justice [[Salmon P. Chase]], a leading Radical during the war, concluded that:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schuckers |first=J. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/lifepublicservic00schu/ |title=The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase |date=1874 |pages=585 |publisher=New York, D. Appleton and Company |via=Archive.org}}; letter of May 30, 1868 to August Belmont.</ref>
{{blockquote|1=Congress was right in not limiting, by its Reconstruction acts, the right of suffrage to Whites; but wrong in the exclusion from suffrage of certain classes of citizens and all unable to take its prescribed retrospective oath, and wrong also in the establishment of despotic military governments for the states and in authorizing military commissions for the trial of civilians in time of peace. There should have been as little military government as possible; no military commissions; no classes excluded from suffrage; and no oath except one of faithful obedience and support to the Constitution and laws, and of sincere attachment to the constitutional government of the United States.}}

By 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant had alienated large numbers of leading Republicans, including many Radicals, by the corruption of his administration and his use of federal soldiers to prop up Radical state regimes in the South. The opponents, called "[[Liberal Republican Party (United States)|Liberal Republicans]]", included founders of the party who expressed dismay that the party had succumbed to corruption. They were further wearied by the continued insurgent violence of Whites against Blacks in the South, especially around every election cycle, which demonstrated that the war was not over and changes were fragile. Leaders included editors of some of the nation's most powerful newspapers. Charles Sumner, embittered by the corruption of the Grant administration, joined the new party, which nominated editor [[Horace Greeley]]. The loosely-organized Democratic Party also supported Greeley.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Grant made up for the defections by new gains among Union veterans and by strong support from the "[[Stalwart (politics)|Stalwart]]" faction of his party (which depended on his patronage), and the Southern Republican Party. Grant won with 55.6% of the vote to Greeley's 43.8%. The Liberal Republican Party vanished and many former supporters—even former abolitionists—abandoned the cause of Reconstruction.{{sfnp|McPherson|1875|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}}