"If we had to be "readmitted to the Union", what was our status before we met the conditions for readmittance? Were we Territories?"
I did not say readmited. You never left, you just thot you did. All that was necessary was to do away with slavery which you did and promise not to throw rocks at people and then you were free to send representitives to both houses of congress. If you chose to not do that, yes, you would still be occupied to this day or new states would have been created out of your space.
My question has always been why did you think that you could dictate to the other states and failing that, you would shoot your way out. I have always held the people of the south to be very intelligent. That being so, why not try the law? Intellegent people usually do things based on reason and logic. Shooting at you neighbor is neither. It almost looks like all that you did you based on emotion. I know that can't be so, southern folks are to smart to do something silly like that. Don't you think so? Had you not attacked the United States at Sumter, you would still have all those slaves if you wanted them. The Federal Government could not do anything about it and even Mr. Lincoln said so at his first inaugration, but it seems that the folks (read that agitators) down south said he must be lying, he is from Illinois. How can we believe anyone from the midwest. To bad you did not test him to see. If he tried to take your slaves, then you could sue in court and if that did not work, you could have started shooting and the world would have backed you up. You might even been recoginzed by other governments. You would have even given your Secretary of State something to do instead of just sit around Montgomery and later Richmond wondering what he was to do with his time. Possibilty thinking that is the answer.
FC