Final answer:
Thaddeus Stevens supported radical reconstruction, treating the southern states as conquered territories, and redistributing lands to freedpeople. He disagreed with lenient presidential reconstruction and, alongside other Radicals, sought to ensure Unionist control and protection of freedpeople's rights.
Step-by-step explanation:
Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and an influential Radical Republican, strongly advocated for a radical reconstruction approach after the Civil War. He was dissatisfied with the Presidential Reconstruction and felt that the punishment of former Confederates had been neglected.
Stevens believed that southern states had forfeited their rights as states upon seceding and should be treated as conquered territories. Moreover, he supported the redistribution of plantation lands and the enforcement of U.S. military control over the former Confederacy.
He envisioned an expanded change in the South, including protecting the rights of freedpeople and potentially redistributing lands to them.
Radical Republicans like Stevens and Charles Sumner wanted to ensure that true Unionists controlled the Reconstruction process and that the rights of the freedpeople were somewhat protected.
They favored a reconstruction plan with more stringent requirements for the southern states to be readmitted to the Union, such as mandating loyalty oaths and barring Confederate leaders from office.
These ideas contrasted with President Andrew Johnson's more lenient approach, which stimulated enormous opposition from Radical Republicans and the northern electorate.