The South responded to Lincoln's skillful use of the U.S. Navy to provoke the Gulf of Tonkin Incident - err, I mean the Fort Sumter Incident. Let's set that aside.
When you write about the “North's position” - what position was that?
Foolishly, the new Confederate states and government backed the attack on Fort Sumter. Calling the routine resupply of Fort Sumter a provocation quite misses the point that the South was spoiling for a fight. They falsely believed that the North had neither the stomach nor the capacity for a fight.