“It was the taking up of arms against the duly elected government.” - J
If I am not mistaken, several Southern States took legal action through their duly elected legislatures to separate themselves from the United States many months before shooting started.
No Southern leader was convicted of treason. (Let that sink in...)
If you dispute that assertion please name the parties.
They were all pardoned under one of the four amnesty proclamations that Andrew Johnson issued during his term in office.
Not only was no Southern leader ever convicted of treason, no Southern leader was ever brought to trial.
President Davis petitioned for a trial for the two years he was wrongfully imprisoned only to be released on bond. A nolle prosequi was entered in his case in 1869.
Why didn't the yankees want to try President Davis for treason? It's simple; a trial would have publicly shown the legality of secession and the criminal acts of disHonest Abe and the federal government.
Some may suggest that the yankees gave a general amnesty as a compassionate gesture to heal the wounds. I say bravo sierra to that notion based on the previous four years of yankee war crimes which included the wanton destruction of private property and the rape, maiming and slaughter of non-combatants including those that they were supposedly there to set free.
Let it sink in that Lincoln could’ve hung Lee and Davis if he had desired but he didn’t, did he? And just what were these legal actions southerns states took?