Portrait Of A Radical

As noted in the previous article, Edwin Stanton had been exposed to Radical Abolitionist rhetoric by one person or another since his early, formative years.

Otto Scott, in his book The Secret Six: The Fool As Martyr  which was about terrorist John Brown, Scott took note of the effect that Unitarian Abolitionist Theodore Weld had, not only on Stanton, but also on other lawyers, notably Joshua R. Giddings and Ben Wade, who ended up being a radical among radicals.

During the War of Northern Aggression, Stanton and other administration radicals were perfectly willing to prolong the killing and misery on both sides. They were even willing to manipulate the people of the North into such a mindset that they saw no possible solution to the war except the Radical Abolitionist solution. Stanton and his radical cohorts worked to convince the people in the North that the war could not be won or concluded until the goals of abolitionism had been attained.