Mike, had you heard that before the war, the Radical Republicans were going to kick the South out of the union as soon as Lincoln was elected? If this is true and I have no reason to doubt, (it's in the Congressional record), the South's days were numbered anyway. I HATE that they acted too soon and gave Lincoln what he wanted.
From what I have read, Lincoln DIDN'T want the war nor did he want to punish the South as much as most of the Republican party did at the time.
I don't know if they wanted to kick the South out more than they wanted to Punish the South. Considering how politicians are, I do think the punish crowd was probably stronger.
Lincoln's Assassination made the reconstruction much worse than it would/should have been.....