Moronic on its face. How does the Union "do nothing to stop independence" and yet still lay claim to military forts in South Carolina, and defend them with soldiers, months after South Carolina declared independence? This alone shows the list to be farcical at best.
The fire-eaters however had only war on their minds.
Why wouldn't the Union defend those forts, etc? After all they were the property of the federal US government.
Because The U.S. did not recognize the independence of S. Carolina and thus had no obligation to just leave federal forts. Yeah, some group met in Charleston and just said “see ya”, but that is not “independence” no more than what happened in Philadelphia in 1776.
The feds did not stop these people from declaring whatever they wanted. But it didn’t mean they had to play along.
And you can cite, dear teach', the law somewhere which says that just because a bunch of slaving-holding secessionists issues formal declarations of independence, that means government property in those states is suddenly, magically, not government property?
What Constitutional principle says the government is not required to defend its property or officials?
The fact of the matter is that neither outgoing President Buchanan nor incoming President Lincoln lifted one finger to prevent secessionists from issuing their declarations, or forming their new Confederate government.
All either did, before the Confederacy's declaration of war (May 6, 1861) was attempt to hold onto a tiny remnant of dozens of major, and hundreds of minor, Federal facilities in secessionist-ruled states.