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"President Lincoln was action(acting) on information provided to him by the commander in the field. How could he act otherwise?"

This quote from Anderson might give you an answer:

“I…confess that it…surprises me greatly…(that these orders) contradict the assurances of Mr. Crawford that Fort Sumter would be evacuated. I trust that this matter will be at once put in a correct light, as a movement made now, when the South has been erroneously informed that none such will be attempted, would produce most disastrous results throughout our country.

“It is, of course, now too late for me to give any advice in reference to the proposed scheme of Captain Fox. I fear that its result cannot fail to be disastrous to all concerned…Colonel Lamon’s remark convinced me that the idea (of re-supply), merely hinted at to me by Captain Fox, would not be carried out.

We shall strive to do our duty, though I frankly say that my heart is not in the war which I see is to be thus commenced.”

Major Anderson, Ft. Sumter, Charleston Harbor, Six days before the invasion.

"It became clear that slavery was tolerable. Failure to collect revenues was not."

Lincoln's inaugural threat to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government." meant war, and everybody knew it.

"We have no doubt that Mr. Lincoln wants the Cabinet at Montgomery to take the initiative by capturing the two forts in its waters, for it would give him the opportunity of throwing upon the Southern Confederacy the responsibility of commencing hostilities.

But the country and posterity will hold him as responsible as if he struck the first blow…”

So all the money in the treasury wouldn't have done Sumter any good in the way of getting supplies from Charleston.

Maybe, maybe not. Lincoln formally ordered the military operation to Ft. Sumter on March 29. The newspapers were picking up the story and making it seem that the garrison was starving; that of course suited his purposes well. But there was one problem.

The garrison was still receiving meats and vegetables from the city on this date. Anderson may have been running out of flour, tea or sugar, but all he had to do was ask.

There were regular meetings in the City of Charleston between the Governor and officials at Ft. Sumter.

On April 5, 1861 "J. G. Foster, Captain of Engineers at Fort Sumter, in his daily update dispatch to his superior in Washington, General Totten, Chief Engineer of the US, spoke of the information given to the lieutenant at the meeting, which had caused much mortification for Major Anderson. In his dispatch, he said the following:

“ 'Commissioner (Confederate) Crawford in Washington said, ‘I am authorized to say that this government will not undertake to supply Ft. Sumter without notice to (the Governor of South Carolina). My opinion is that the President has not the courage to execute the order agreed on in the Cabinet for the evacuation of the fort, but that he intends to shift the responsibility upon Major Anderson by suffering him to be starved out.'

" 'Captain Foster stated that the consequence of Lincoln’s position, as reported by Crawford was “that no more supplies of food could come from the city.”

"Thus he, as an officer of the fort, realized that conditions at Ft. Sumter were worsening specifically due to the intentional actions of the Federal government. This cessation of food supplies would provide cover for Washington, enable the Naval expedition to appear to be humanitarian in nature, and protect the military in case Anderson surrendered."

"It became clear that slavery was tolerable. Failure to collect revenues was not."

Unless you have something new, don't bother with that. You and Ken Burns both know that there was a Union quartermaster at Ft. Sumter who had on deposit in Charleston funds to pay the Charleston merchants for the food the Union garrison was consuming.

It was common knowledge what Mr. Lincoln was doing:

Two days after his inauguration, the New York Herald said,

“We have no doubt that Mr. Lincoln wants the Cabinet at Montgomery to take the initiative by capturing the two forts in its waters, for it would give him the opportunity of throwing upon the Southern Confederacy the responsibility of commencing hostilities. But the country and posterity will hold him as responsible as if he struck the first blow…”

Trade with Europe was in goods and specie, not balance of trade credit.

Imports were being financed with the sale of Southern exports, and without Southern goods to underwrite the process, and Southern consumers to pay for the import tariffs, the government of the US either had to find a new source of revenue or attack Charleston.

"There were never any tariffs on Southern-produced goods. Tariffs are on imports, not exports."

You miss the point. In 1860, 65% of the value of US exports was in cotton and tobacco. Whether or not Southern states exported and imported, paying tariffs, or Northern traders and brokers bought, shipped and re-imported, thus paying tariffs, is not the issue. The point is that in 1860, 65% of the US Treasury revenue came from tariffs on imported goods paid for in Europe with Southern grown goods. With cotton and tobacco no longer going through US Customs houses, the government was almost immediately bankrupt.

Due to the recession in the North of 1857-58, and the excessive infrastructure spending by Congress, the Federal Debt had swelled to unprecedented levels. And with 98% of the US Treasury dependent on tariff revenue, and that being fed by Southern produced goods (gone as of Feb., 1861) to the tune of at the very least 65% of the total revenue, on March 4, 1861 the Federal government was broke. The Southern states seceded for a variety of reasons, but Lincoln, hounded by bankers and businessmen, brought the fight South to protect the US Treasury.

Enjoy.

Great post. Thanks

If you are going to quote the Cornerstone speech, be sure to provide his first quotes in the speech.

Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech, (March, 1861):

"Allow me briefly to allude to some of these improvements (of the new Confederate Constitution over the old Union Constitution). The question of building up class interests, or fostering one branch of industry to the prejudice of another under the exercise of the revenue power, which gave us so much trouble under the old constitution, is put at rest forever under the new."

“We allow the imposition of no duty with a view of giving advantage to one class of persons, in any trade or business, over those of another.

“This old thorn of the tariff, which was the cause of so much irritation in the old body politic,is removed forever from the new.

"The Civil war without slavery - it would never have happened"

The end of slavery without a civil war.....it happened everywhere except the US. Wonder why?

Bump if you haven't already seen it.

"It was the opinion of a lot of other people too."

And those opinions are just as irrelevant. See the federal and state laws governing the transaction for the truth.

"The feds stopped construction of the fort until clear title was conveyed. That was in 1841."

So, your post of an act of the SC state Senate in 1836 that you asserted settled the matter, didn't after all, did it.

"But a great many people thought it was U.S. property in 1861 too"

The people at the federal installations could use the property as long as they abided by the regulations outlined in the cessation documents. Those regulations were violated in 1860.

At that time the state of SC and later the Confederacy sent commissioners to Washington to secure and pay for the federal facilities. Lincoln stubbornly refused to see them and peacefully resolve this conflict. His stupidity cost the lives of over 620,000 people.

"The upshot of the NG thread on Sumter was that enough time had passed since the 1794 acts..."

That is not the 'upshot'. That is one poster's opinion.

"The people of South Carolina arrogantly thought they dould steal from the people of the United States"

They had been asking to buy the fort since November of 1860, and continued the quest in Washington until April 10, 1860

Fort Sumter was taken, no lives lost, and Anderson and his men sent home. This was the second time in four months that armed forces of the Union were expelled from Charleston Harbor without loss of life. The message was 'don't to to Charleston unless you want to be run off'. But war never came from the first excursion, and wouldn't from the second except for that little thing Lincoln did about calling out the troops.

Sounds as if your 'slam dunk' comparison is based on insufficient reasoning, and more on redneck posturing.

Since they were not at the meeting, and are only supposing what was said, their conclusion is just that. They admitted what they were saying was not based on Lincoln's words. Balwin's description is recorded testimony.

So, where would our thorough historian, Doris Kearnes Goodhead, go for a full description, accurate of course, about the starving soldiers at the fort? Someone she could quote with confidence.

Little more productive than yours.