Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan because it did not ensure equal civil rights for freed slaves. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, the new president, Andrew Johnson, issued his own Reconstruction Plan.
The Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln's plan because they thought it too lenient toward the South. Radical Republicans believed that Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction was not harsh enough because, from their point of view, the South was guilty of starting the war and deserved to be punished as such
