[MBB1984]

What never made sense to me is that the states had to be readmitted to the union. If they never recognized secession what was the purpose for readmission to the union?

[Hegewisch Dupa]

!!! That’s a damn good point

[central_va]

What never made sense to me is that the states had to be readmitted to the union. If they never recognized secession what was the purpose for readmission to the union?

Why wasn't ONE southerner tried for treason? Col. Wirz was tried for conspiracy and murder, not teason.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...If (the federal government) never recognized secession what was the purpose for readmission (of the states that had seceded) to the union?...”
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Good Question.

[matt1234]

What never made sense to me is that the states had to be readmitted to the union. If they never recognized secession what was the purpose for readmission to the union?

The North needed time to consolidate power, so they delayed readmission. Some Southern states did not have congressional representation until 1870. Texas, Mississippi and Virginia did not participate in the presidential election of 1868.

[Drennan Whyte]

What never made sense to me is that the states had to be readmitted to the union. If they never recognized secession what was the purpose for readmission to the union?

If you read the Reconstruction acts, what was being readmitted were the delegations to Congress, not the states into the Union. There is no evidence of any enabling act, the formal process of admitting a state to the Union, for any of the Southern states after the Civil War.