Your recollection is slightly flawed. In the reconstruction acts, Congress withdrew Southern congressional representation until such time as those states could demonstrate that their governments were not controlled by the same men who had launched a bloody rebellion and who were trying to negate the 13th Amendment. Ratification of the 14th Amendment was one of the guidelines to demonstrate that. They were never 'non-states' or 'ex-states' or anything but actual states. Their readmission was the readmission of their delegates to Congress, not as states to the Union.
"Guidelines?" Interesting way of describing it.
They were never 'non-states' or 'ex-states' or anything but actual states. Their readmission was the readmission of their delegates to Congress...
I eagerly await your explanation as to how this comports with Article 5's, "...that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."
By the way, I cheerfully recognize that a state cannot rescind an earlier ratification vote. But it's worth noting that in addition to New Jersey, the states of Ohio and Oregon also rescinded their ratifications of the 14th; not because of any inherent opposition to its content, but because of the unconstitutional manner in which Congress was acting with regard to the 14th.