 Moderates said this could be easily accomplished as soon as the Confederate States Army surrendered and the Southern states repealed secession and accepted the Thirteenth Amendment–most of which happened by December 1865.President Lincoln was the leader of the moderate Republicans and wanted to speed up Reconstruction and reunite the nation painlessly and quickly.Lincoln formally began Reconstruction in late 1863 with his ten percent plan, which went into operation in several states but which Radical Republicans opposed.