[BroJoeK]

DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis: "Actually the confederates considered it an act of aggression and bad faith that the US government sent ships to resupply and re-arm the fort after the fed gov kept intimating to the confederacy that the fort would be returned to the state of South Carolina."

Lincoln's offer was "a fort for a state" -- he would turn over Fort Sumter if Virginia adjourned its secession convention and promised to remain in the Union.
As long as that deal remained "on the table", there was much speculation about withdrawing from Fort Sumter.

But in the end, Virginians turned down Lincoln's offer, and so he went back to "plan B" which was, as Buchanan had attempted, to resupply both Forts Sumter & Pickens.

As for the Confederate assault on Fort Sumter, two points need to be remembered:

1. The Confederate legal claim to Fort Sumter -- and all other Federal properties -- was equivalent to the Commie Cubans' claim on Guantanamo Bay, meaning: regardless of how valid such claims may or may not be, if they militarily assault US forces there, that is necessarily an act of war against the United States.
   And no actions the US may take to resupply or reinforce US troops can be justification for starting war there.

2. Confederates' military assault on Fort Sumter began Civil War in the same sense as President Roosevelt declared the Japanese began war at Pearl Harbor.
   Before the attack, the US could take not military actions to stop enemy expansions, but after their assault, the US could fight & defeat them unconditionally.

DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis: "They weren't eager for this fight.
And ever after Fort Sumter they didn't consider themselves at war with the US.
They didn't declare war on the US until several weeks after Lincoln called for troops to subdue them."

But they clearly were eager for a fight, certainly compared to all possible alternatives.
Lincoln also did not consider the US "at war" with Southern states, he only moved against political "combinations" which were acting unlawfully and needed to be subdued.

But within four weeks of Fort Sumter, Confederates:

1. Seized Forts Macon, Caswell and Johnson in (still) Union North Carolina (4/16).

2. Attacked & killed or wounded dozens of Union troops in Baltimore, in Union Maryland (4/19).

3. Seized US Navy Yard & stores in Norfolk, VA, while Virginia was still a Union state (4/20).

4. Seized US arsenal at Liberty, in Union Missouri (4/20).

5. Seized Union ship Star of the West in Indianola, Texas (4/19).

6. Seized US Army stores in Pine Bluff, in (still) Union Arkansas 4/18).

7. Seized US Army arsenal at Fayetteville, in (still) Union North Carolina (4/22).

8. Offered military aid to pro-Confederates fighting in Union Missouri (4/23).

9. Captured and held as POWs over 400 US Army officers & troops in Indianola, Texas (4/25).

10. Repudiated all debts to Northerners, in Georgia (4/26).

11. Still officially Union Virginia offered Richmond as the new Confederate capital (4/27).

12. Granted War Powers to Confederate President Davis (4/29).

13. Seized US Army ordnance stores at Kansas City, in Union Missouri (5/3).

14. Formally declared war on the United States (5/6).

15. Called up another 400,000 Confederate troops (now 500,000 total) (5/9).

16. Ordered six warships and other military equipment from abroad (5/10).

17. Seized railroad equipment at Harpers Ferry, in still officially Union Virginia (5/14).

All that was still a month before the first Confederate Army soldier was killed directly in battle with any Union force, and before any Union Army invaded a single Confederate state.

So obviously, the Confederacy considered itself "at war" with the United States long before the Union did anything significant to oppose them.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Seward, a member of Lincoln's cabinet, in meetings with confederate ambassadors, was keeping the confederacy lulled with promises of turning over the fort soon.

Their taking of federal government controlled forts and arms was simply a statement of their being their own independent country. After all, the states delegated powers and lands to the fed gov when creating the fed gov and the union, but when withdrawn those delegated rights and powers went back to the states. The Fed gov no longer had rights to have forts in states not under its influence. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people you know.

The Maryland incident reflected the feelings of people of that city, but in no way can be construed as action of confederate government or the state governments.

If they had wanted war so badly, they would have issued an official declaration a lot sooner than they did. Rather it was Lincoln who was eager for war. He rejected all meetings with the Confederate peace ambassadors. He maneuvered the South into firing on Fort Sumter (he sent a messenger to SC to find out if sending supplies and arms to the fort would cause SC to fire on the fort, and the answer was yes...he then sent the arms and supplies in an attempt to provoke a conflict). The confederacy was still open to peace even after Fort Sumter (in which no one was killed btw), but Lincoln would have none of it and opted for war instead.

[jmacusa]

Very informative post Joe. Question for you. The Confederates here always say the slavery was a dying institution, etc. If the South had won the war would thay have ended slavery or would the coming industrialization ended it de facto?