The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Although there are no options attached, we can say the following.
Thaddeus Stevens believed that the former Confederate states should be treated as territories because they had made the decision to secede from the Union and these seceded states were very conscious of what they were doing and the consequences.
Stevens said that the rebel states <em>"had taken themselves out of the Union when they seceded."</em> That is why they had to be dealt with as territories. He suggested forming five districts with military leaders at the front.
Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was one of the toughest radical Republicans in the US Congress, who strongly opposed Reconstruction as President Abraham Lincoln had proposed. Stevenson believed that the Confederate states should get a harsh punishment for the damage created in war.
