[lentulusgracchus]

[rustbucket] Where was the Federal Government given the right to use force to prevent secession?

And I will point out to you that while Lincoln may not have believed in the legality of the Southern acts of secession, he also did not use force to prevent secession.

That is such a howler, I cannot believe you typed it with a straight face:

• Missouri coup d'etat and suppression of the State
• Virginia blockade
• Invasion of Virginia and the cannonading of Virginia militia posts
• North Carolina blockade
• Suppression of Maryland
• Seizure of Alexandria and Arlington
• Invasion of Tennessee
• Suppression of newspapers and courts
• Imposition of a levy of draftees on the civil population

None of these States had "waged war", or done anything but secede, or deliberate secession, to provoke Lincoln's forcible use of the Army and Wide Awakes.

[Non-Sequitur]

That is such a howler, I cannot believe you typed it with a straight face....

But I find your reply totally in keeping with your habits. If you can't misquote someone you don't quote them at all. You left out the second sentence, "Not until after the South resorted to force to further their aims." Every one of those actions came after the South had started the war and when those states were taking steps to join the rebellion. Except for the stuff about conscription and suppressing newspapers. Those came after the South had done the same, though not because of it.