So the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Funny, cause that's what got FDR hooked up with Joe Stalin.
All this Democrat basshing of Stevens ignores the fact that Republican Reconstruction, Radical or otherwise, did not even begin in the South until the March 1867 passage of the Reconstruction Act.
Actually, what can accurately be termed "reconstruction" style policies began in Missouri circa 1862 and continued in varying degrees across southern states both off and on through 1867. At times, some did indeed regain control on their own and this did indeed prompt reaction in Congress, but that alone does not mean that none of the reviled policies predated 1867.