I don't have the text of the 1867 Reconstruction Act here, but it seems
prety clear that the US Congress, in fact, quite consciously stripped
the former Confederacy of their rights to be states (hence, Texas was
lumped together with Louisiana as Military District Number 5 and
Virginia, shorn of her western counties, became District 1).   By
seceding, the Congress declared, the Confederate states had abdicated
their rights.   By treating the former Confederacy as "conquered
territories," the implicit mesaage (or threat?) was that the conquerors
could redraw the lines, or re-constitute the territories as they wished.
 I imagine it must as crossed some northern minds that they could make
such troublesome states as South Carolina simply "disappear."   In the
end, however, the Congress permitted the states to be re-admitted
without suffering dismemberment (excepting Virginia). 

David Kiracofe

David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136
>>> John Philip Adams <[log in to unmask]> 02/26/07 11:43 PM >>>
Texas had not been successfully invaded, except Galveston, or defeated
on
our state's land, for the entirety of the war. Additionally, I have not
seen
any data saying we had to give up our rights to become a state, because
the
South LOST. In fact I don't believe it was ever addressed, specifically
it
was such a unique situation that it was probably overlooked after the
war by
the Yankee lawyers. 

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