Did the U.S. ever seriously consider not returning Statehood to the newly-defeated Confederate States? For that matter, was it ever debated whether former Confederates should regain U.S. citizenship and voting rights?

by mockduckcompanion

It strikes me that a lot of the Reconstruction Era's aspirations were curbed or defeated because of the quick reincorporation of the Confederate states and their white citizens. Did Lincoln or the Republicans ever seriously consider temporary disenfranchisement, or was reuniting the Union too important to jeopardize with this kind of authoritarianism?

33242

Piggybacking off OP’s question, was there ever any debate over scrapping the states that had rebelled and admitting newer, different states containing the same areas?