But if Virginia was not a state: a) there is an admission states could secede; b) the North fought against a foreign entity; and, c) reconstruction laws are unenforceable as against foreign entities, thus the entire set of reconstruction laws and the 14th amendment were improperly enforced against states that had seceded.
... and if it was a State ... you come to contradictions too. (Because the other assumption that MUST be made is that Honest Abe acted legally.)
About the 14th Amendment, be sure to read There is No "Fourteenth Amendment"! by David Lawrence from the September 27, 1957 (a time of decidedly less political correctness!) U.S. News & World Report, if you have not done so already. (And if you have, read it again!)
ML/NJ