[central_va]

The question is to you: would you feel it would have been justice if Lee and Davis were hanged?

[HandyDandy]

I personally, would have liked to have seen Alexander Stephens slapped upside the head a few times. Sic semper dirt bags.

Davis wasn't worth the trouble. He was in someone's pocket IMHO.

And Lee? Hanged? Are you out of your cotton pickin' skull? No!

[BroJoeK]

central_va: "The question is to you: would you feel it would have been justice if Lee and Davis were hanged? "

The Constitution defines treason, assigns Congress the power to prescribe punishments, and gives the President authority to pardon crimes.

After Vietnam, Peanut Cahteh also mass-pardoned draft dodgers, regardless of whether they had been charged or convicted.

So, mass-pardons of Confederates I think were appropriate, even though they clearly met the Constitution's definition of treason.
IOW, what they deserved was justice according to the Constitution, but what they received was mercy, also according to the Constitution.

And there's another factor to remember: nearly all of the top Confederate leaders, including Davis & Lee, after the war called for reunion and reconciliation, and that alone was worth the price of mercy:

"The Meriden Daily Journal stated that Davis, at a reception held in New Orleans in May 1887, urged southerners to be loyal to the nation.
He said, 'United you are now, and if the Union is ever to be broken, let the other side break it.' "