HangUpNow: “No. You did NOT go there. Wait...you DID. Geez. “
So let’s see if I understand correctly: you are the official Free Republic PC police, authorized to call out anybody that doesn’t speak your officially sanctioned language?
Sorry, but the truth of this matter is: that analogy is almost exact, including the fact that both Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were warned that sending naval forces to Sumter or Pearl could “provoke” an enemy attack, and both ignored the warnings.
My point is that we never blame FDR for Pearl Harbor and should not blame Lincoln for Fort Sumter.
One would have to accept your strawmen in order to concede the analogies are relevant to begin with. Ok, so I'll play for the moment.
The South's "enemy attack" upon Lincoln's instigators? After the Union troops (customs enforcement) inside Fort Sumter refused to vacate it, Confederate forces opened fire on it with cannons. Union instigators surrendered without casualty -- except for two soldiers killed when their cannon exploded. NOT exactly "Pearl Harbor, was it?
This was more like a mere baseball brush-back exchange between two teams comprised of cousins; Pearl Harbor was a one-sided brawl, with Visitor Japan stacking the stadium with hooligans and ruffians, mugging and murdering its hosts.
America had prevented Japan from buying much needed rubber and war supplies due to its aggression against China and its sphere of influence. Frustrated, Japan at first tried to send ambassadors in order to negotiate and tamp down America's hardline stance.
LINCOLN's policy OTOH was strangling the American South labor/resource-rich cousins unfairly with high tariffs and import taxes; Ironically treating the South like ITS slave.
Dishonest socialist FDR didn't care if he ruffled Japan's feathers, period. Moreover, the US had broken Japan's code. Yes, he and the PTB *knew* exactly when Japan was going to bomb Pearl and used the incident to force the US into a war in the Pacific.
Lincoln also needed an "Incident" to get the uppity, secession-minded South back in line. Fort Sumter was as good an instigation as any. Except that it almost backfired on Dishonest Abe and his Northern, profiteering Industrialist overlords.
History always repeats itself, sadly.