No, Lincoln's orders were, in effect, "no first use of force."
The choice for war belonged to Jefferson Davis.
He chose...
DiogenesLamp: "Wealthy, White, Rich, Privileged, Liberal Captains of Industry from New York and the North East clearly recognized that they would be heavily damaged or perhaps destroyed financially if the South... "
Northern Democrats were joined at the hip -- politically, economically, socially -- to their Southern Democrat partners, did not wat to let them go, were happy to support slavery if that could keep them.