The victors also wrote and ratified the 13th Amendment, and I understand why that may bother some people. Personally, I’m a big fan.
Mens rea. Did they pass the 13th amendment because they believed it was the right thing to do, or did they pass it because it was politically advantageous for them to do it?
I used to believe the former, but after looking at enough manipulation of the public from this era, I now believe it was done for the later reason.
The North had the four years of the civil war to grant former slaves (indeed, they did not even free their own slaves) the right to vote. They did not.
When Northern armies occupied the South and prevented all white people from voting, Washington DC ordered it's puppet governments in the Southern states to ratify this amendment. This is problematic on the face of it, because puppet governments do not truly represent the will of the people. They represent the despotic authority that controls them.
After having killed hundreds of thousands of their men, it was clear these states would be indefinitely hostile to the party that did it, but at the same time, it was clear the accidentally freed slaves would be grateful and would support this party no matter what it wanted to do.
I now think that they then supported those voting rights, as they now support illegal immigrants voting, that their motivation is induced by what is best for their control of power, and that they don't give a crap about it because they are concerned about human rights.
Indeed, if the 1860 Republicans thought freed slaves would vote against their party, they would have absolutely denied them the right to vote, and even now, if Hispanics were perceived as voting against the Liberal party today, the Liberals would be down there on the border building the fence themselves.
So is this about what is moral and right, or is this about who benefits? Because I now believe it is always about who benefits, and it is never about what is morally right.
That's just the propaganda they spew to justify whatever brings them power.