Stanton had soon come into conflict with…

Stanton had soon come into conflict with Johnson over the nature of Reconstruction policy toward the defeated South.

The secretary of war uses his position to foster stricter Reconstruction measures than the president desires; in addition, Stanton acts as the secret representative, within the Cabinet, of the Radical Republican element in Congress, who become Johnson's bitter enemies.

The administration's policy of readmission of seceded states into the Union carries few provisions for reform or civil rights for freedmen, who, although emancipated, are destitute, uneducated, and subject to exploitation and mistreatment.

The Radicals, outraged at the return of power to traditional white aristocratic hands, protest the emergence of restrictive black codes aimed at controlling and suppressing the former slaves.