(a) Secession of South Carolina.
The Southern States had already threatened secession in case Republican candidate was elected President. After Lincoln’s election, they proceeded to implement the threat. The first step in this direction was taken by South Carolina when within four days of Lincoln’s election, the Legislature voted unanimously to summon a special convention to consider the issue of secession. The Convention met in December 1860 and unanimously voted for secession.
The chief reasons assigned for this action were (i) that thirteen of the northern states had passed ‘personal liberty laws’ in violation of the constitution, (ii) that a man who was hostile to slavery had been elected as the President of the United States, and (iii) South had been taxed by high tariff duties for the benefit of the northern interests.
(b) Confederate States of America.
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Soon after her declaration of secession, South Carolina issued an address to other slave states urging them to leave the Union and join her in forming a Southern Confederacy. Within one month of South Carolina’s secession, four other States- Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia also announced their secession. Soon after the Louisiana and Texas also seceded. These seven seceding states were the chief cotton producing states of the South.
In February 1861, the representative of these seven states met at Montogomery, Alabama, find formed the “Confederate States of America”. The Confederacy adopted its own Constitution and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as its President. Thus within three months of Lincoln’s election, and one month before his actual assumption of office as President, seven states of South had withdrawn from the Union and set up a government of their own.
(c) Reaction in Washington.
The politicians at Washington were greatly perplexed by the action of the cotton states. President James Buchanan the ‘lame-duck’ President was still in office. He adopted very conciliatory attitude towards the South. In his annual Message to Congress, Buchanan declared that the secession was unconstitutional.
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However, at the same time he admitted that neither the Congress nor the President had any constitutional power to prevent the secession. This message of Buchanan produced sharp reaction in the North. But the attitude of the North on the whole continued to be conciliatory.
A number of proposals were advanced to secure a compromise between North and South. The most important of these proposals was Crittenden Compromise. Crittenden proposed that the Congress should not have any power to interfere with slavery in any state or territory south of the old Missouri Compromise line 36 30′ north.
It was also proposed that these provisions be incorporated in the Constitution through an amendment, which could not be modified later. With a view to conciliate the South the House of Representatives also passed resolution forbidding Congress or the people for all future time to molest slavery in any state where it existed without the consent of the state. In other words, it made slavery perpetual in the United States.
However, all these gestures for conciliation on the part of North were completely ignored by the South. It continued the policy of holding forts, arsenals, munitions of war and other property of United States.
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Thus before the close of Buchanas’s presidency the Confederate government had seized every fort, mint, post office, and custom house within the boundaries of seven states except Fort Sumter, Fort Pickens, Key West and Dry Tortugas. Thus on the eve of Lincoln’s inauguration, as Prof. Elson has said, “-The glories for which Washington had fought, which Jackson had preserved, which millions of Americans loved better than life, seemed on the verge of falling into fragments.” [1]
(d) Inauguration of Lincoln.
In his first Inaugural Address Lincoln set forth a policy which hardly differed from that of Buchanan. Holding out an olive branch Lincoln declared that he had no intention of interfering with slavery where it existed and also affirmed that he had no lawful right to do so.
But at the same time he also held that ‘in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual’. This implied that if the seceding states did not retrace their steps there would be war.
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However, Lincoln did not suggest any active measures to force the Confederate States back into the Union. He simply proposed to hold military posts not yet taken by the ConfederaTes, to enforce federal laws where federal agents were not ‘obnoxious to the local population.
(e) The Beginning of War.
Till the attack on Sumter on April, 12 most of the Northerners felt that war could still be averted. Fort Sumter located on an island in the harbour of Charleston, which had been surrounded by the Southerners was running short of supplies and would have surrendered if fresh supplies had not reached them.
However, the surrender of Fort Sumter was interpreted by North as an acknowledgement of the independence of the Confederacy. President Lincoln decided to send relief expedition, against the advice of his Cabinet. This enraged Jefferson Davis, who was contemplating of drawing from the Union without war. Consequently, he authorized the military forces in Charleston to act.
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On April 12, 1861 the Confederate forces opened fire on the fortress and forced it to surrender. This was the first blow of the war. Lincoln acting on his (Congress was not called in session) called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the revolution. Simultaneously he also ordered the blockade of the Confederate sea ports. Thus the war had begun.
The other eight slave states, who had so far not decided as to which side they should join, could no more remain isolated. Consequently four of these States-Virgina, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina-joined the Confederacy. The other four slave states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri remained with the Union, although a number of their citizens fought on the side of the Confederacy.