You are pretty close in your assessment. The states were on a probationary period before they were allowed back in the Union. They had to complete a list of tasks in order to regain statehood. Until then they were akin to territories and occupied ones at that. I might have written an article about how the states regained the Union but I can't remember what the title was. Reconstruction is a period of American history that deserves more attention as it was critical to how the post civil war Union regained its form.