Replies

Lincoln sent ships to resupply Sumter, and notified South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens of an impending expedition to provision the fort, an action that Lincoln said would not involve bringing any additional men or arms into the garrison.

In light of the fact that the Governor of South Carolina allowed Gustavus Fox to go to Sumter to meet with Anderson to see about the well being of his soldiers, but in reality Fox was going to meet with Anderson to tell him of the treachery they planned, and in light of the efforts to sneak federal troops into Sumter by hiding them below decks on the Star of the West, If you were the governor of South Carolina would you trust the word of Lincoln?

Also, the Newspaper in Washington DC had announced in March of 1861 that at a cabinet meeting it was decided Fort Sumter would be turned over to South Carolina.

So there are three examples where the Federals could not be trusted at their word. The governor found out that Gustavus Fox lied to him. He found out about the Federal Troops being attempted to be snuck into Sumter. And he found out Lincoln had no intention of turning the fort over to them despite what it said in the newspaper. So now he's supposed to take Lincoln's word that they wouldn't try to reinforce the fort?

And now every state stills suffers from Davis’s blunder, since the illegality of secession is considered “settled” by the stupid war Jeff Davis started.

When you understand the economics of the situation, you will realize that a war was going to start no matter what. You may also be unaware that the Orders Lincoln gave to Lieutenant David Porter would have started a war in Florida if the effort to start it in Charleston failed.

The powerful interests of the North needed a war. They would lose 200 million per year from their control, and likely a great deal more with the loss of their protectionist policies from DC.

In my opinion, while FDR was secretly delighted that Pearl Harbor was attacked, Lincoln really preferred peace.

So long as he was in control. He would rather have a war than lose control, and that is what he did.

I realize that convincing a Southern sympathizer...

I am not a Southern sympathizer. As I have explained numerous times in threads like this, I don't live in a Southern state, I've never lived in a Southern state, my family is not from any Southern state and they did not arrive in the US until the 1900s. (From Denmark.)

I am a reality sympathizer. I try to see things as they truly are, even if they conflict with what I would prefer to believe.