Your warrant appears to be that the northerners vis-à-vis Lincoln not only wanted, but engineered war with the south. I reject that premise as utterly without merit.
My assertion is that the slaverocracy worked to create and exploit division and sectionalism between the states. They saw the writing on the wall regarding the eventual demise of slavery and used the pretext of Lincoln’s election to breakaway so that they could keep it forever. Their actions weren’t thoughtful or measured, it wasn’t a proportional response, it was arbitrary and unilateral and it was done with a maximum amount of belligerence.
Lincoln wasn’t a pushover like Buchanan but he was conciliatory as well as determined. He tried to avoid confrontation and hoped that southerners would come to their senses and return to the fold. His assassination was the reason why Reconstruction took such a harsh tone. People were outraged and wanted to (unfairly) punish the south for his murder.
Imagine now if assassins had gotten him on his way to Washington on the first days of his presidency. What do you suppose the reaction to such an outrage would be? Lincoln eased his way into war with the rebels with the utmost reluctance. Add a violent murder into the mix and the response from the north would have been no holds barred.
We would have been two nations at war in perpetuity.
I very much doubt you gave it a 1/2 seconds worth of thought. Knee Jerk reaction, i'm sure. When the idea was first mentioned to me, I asked to hear his argument for such (at the time) a fantastical notion. Some of us weigh the facts before we arrive at a judgement.
Their actions weren’t thoughtful or measured, it wasn’t a proportional response, it was arbitrary and unilateral and it was done with a maximum amount of belligerence.
And no doubt the Founders would have been regarded with similar epithets from the British. But this is beside the point. If people have a natural right to Declare Independence, then their reasons for doing so are immaterial to the exercise of that right. Foolish speech is also protected under our rights. Foolish Religions are also protected under our rights. What *YOU* regard as foolish, is your affair to do or not do, but you have no right to tell other people that they ought not do something because *YOU* think it is foolish.
Smoking is foolish. Drinking is Foolish. Tattoos are foolish. Piercings are foolish. All manner of thing are foolish, but this does not address the question of rights. Rights do not end with sensibility. They proceed right across the line into foolish territory, but they remain the domain of those who exercise them.
He tried to avoid confrontation and hoped that southerners would come to their senses and return to the fold.
He didn't TRY to avoid confrontation, he COUNTED on it. One of the things my friend told me was that the Military had presented Lincoln a plan with resupplying Fort Sumter covertly by sea at night so as not to stir anything up. Lincoln wanted none of it, and decided to send an explicitly confrontational letter to the Confederate Government. (If he didn't regard them as legitimate, why did he address them as such?) He informed them that he would be sending a supply train to the Fort on a certain date.
It was this letter which fired up the passions for an Attack on the Fort. At the same time, he had Secretary of War Stanton send a letter to Commander Anderson informing him that he would likely soon be attacked. He was to take all precautions to protect the lives of those inside the Fort, and then surrender it at his discretion.
Lincoln shrewdly played the Confederates into a trap. Lincoln knew there was no sentiment in the North for a confrontation with the South, and the only way he could gin up a sentiment was to incite an attack from the Confederates. NOTHING ELSE WOULD HAVE STOPPED THE SECESSION.
Imagine now if assassins had gotten him on his way to Washington on the first days of his presidency. What do you suppose the reaction to such an outrage would be?
It wouldn't have been war. It would have been a massive effort to track down the guilty parties and hang them. Had Lincoln been assassinated in Baltimore before he took office, it may very well have saved 600,000 lives.
It may, in fact, have preserved the Union. The States that seceded were motivated by Lincoln's election and their perception that they would never get a fair treatment in a government so dominated by Republicans.
1 man v 600,000.