Conservative Republicans was a designation applied in reference to a faction of the early Republican Party during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era which advocated a lenient, conciliatory policy towards the South in contrast to the harsher attitudes emphasized by Radical Republicans. "Conservatives" such as Pennsylvania senator Edgar Cowan generally opposed efforts by Radical Republicans to rebuild the Southern U.S. under an economically mobile, free-market system.
Members of the faction primarily thrived politically on antipathy towards civil rights and black suffrage. In states outside New England, Republicans such as Thurlow Weed, Oliver P. Morton, Jacob Dolson Cox, and James R. Doolittle touted their alliance with President Andrew Johnson and/or exploited racist opposition towards suffrage for political gains and to drastically reduce influence by Radical Republicans. In such states, amendments and referendums to enfranchise blacks would fail due to small fractions of Republican voters voting with Democrats to defeat them. Both Radicals and Conservatives in the Republican Party were firm and unwavering in their viewpoints. Senator William E. Chandler of New Hampshire observed: "I notice, that everyone who goes South, whether Radical or Conservative, comes back confirmed in his previous opinion."