[Held_to_Ransom]

If the south didn't want war, why didn't it just give back the hundreds of millions of dollars of cash and equipment it stole, and then having established some small measure of good faith, proceed to work out a reasonable payment schedule for all the money's it took from the north. Granted, they probably would never have been able to pay it off, but if they hadn't insisted on being thieves and criminals of the first order, don't you think the North would have considered some offer?

[rustbucket]

The South sent commissioners to Washington to negotiate terms for the forts, etc., but the President would not officially receive them.

Also, the Lincoln administration kept telling Southern representatives and the Governor of South Carolina that Fort Sumter would be evacuated, when it had already decided to make the resupply effort. A majority of the Lincoln cabinet was opposed to the resupply plan and thought it would lead to war, but Lincoln did it anyway.