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[BroJoeK]: rustbucket: "Lincoln kept Congress out of session until July 4."

[BroJoeK]: No, Congress does not need a President to call it into session, it can convene whenever it wants.
So Lincoln called Congress back to Washington DC months earlier than it would have convened on its own.

You are mistaken. Both houses of Congress adjourned sine die -- The House on March 2, 1861, and the Special Session of the Senate on March 28, 1861. Both adjourned without setting a date to reconvene.

Here is the impact of that sine die adjournment:

The United States House of Representatives adjourned sine die [1] on March 2, 1861, and under parliamentary law, ceased to exist as a lawful deliberative body. An adjournment sine die closes the session, and if there is no provision for convening the assembly again, the adjournment dissolves the assembly.

With both the House and Senate adjourned without setting a reconvene date, they could not reconvene on their own initiative. They were dissolved. The date set by the Constitution for the next session to begin was December 2, 1861. The only other way Congress could reconvene before then was if Lincoln reconvened them, which he did at a date of his choosing, July 4, 1861.

This was consistent with the Constitution.

From Article I (Legislature), Section 4:

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

From Article II (Executive), Section 3:

... [The President] may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them ...

Once both houses of Congress had adjourned sine dei, Lincoln started planning his secret expedition to Fort Sumter and did all of the various unconstitutional things which I've listed above after the attack on Fort Sumter without having to worry about any Congressional interference.

Another outstanding post/research Rustbucket.

That ends another BroCanard crusade of misrepresentations.

Inherent in your post is the fact that it is obvious that the Republican Party/Congress/Supreme Court failed in its responsibility to restrain Lincoln in his effort to use the military to control a Federal financial crisis.

At their feet and his lies the responsibility for the most horrible war in this country's history.

rustbucket: "The date set by the Constitution for the next session to begin was December 2, 1861.
The only other way Congress could reconvene before then was if Lincoln reconvened them, which he did at a date of his choosing, July 4, 1861."

Right, he called them back five months early.
So let's notice some facts about this:

Pro-Confederate claims that the Federal government was in dire financial straights are not supported by Lincoln's choice to call Congress back in July.
If the Federal government was as hard-up as they allege, then Lincoln would need Congress immediately.
But he didn't.
Lincoln only called up 75,000 Union troops, this six weeks after the Confederacy called up 100,000 troops.
So why only 75,000?
The answer is: 75,000 is the maximum Lincoln could call without Congressional approval.
The fact that Lincoln did not call for more, or call Congress into session immediately, means Lincoln did not feel the need at that time.
When Congress came into session in July it effectively approved everything Lincoln did in the interim.