In November of 1860, with Lincoln the apparent winner, a crisis that had been smoldering for at least a decade erupted. Southerners were outraged by the election of Lincoln, who opposed slavery in territories and new states. They began to act almost immediately. James Chesnut, Jr., Senator from South Carolina, resigned just four days after the election. President James Buchanan only made things worse. In December, he wrote a message to Congress. In it he stated he thought secession was illegal. But he added that the federal government could not act to stop any states from leaving the Union. Northerners could not understand how Buchanan could say such a thing. After that, Buchanan's cabinet began falling apart. Howell Cobb, the Secretary of the Treasury who was from Georgia, told Buchanan he quit. A week later, Lewis Cass, the Secretary of State (from Michigan) left because Buchanan had done nothing to stop the secession crisis.
South Carolina was the first to take action. Leaders there had warned that if a Republican won the 1868 election, they would leave the Union. On December 20, 1860 in a special convention, they passed a unanimous resolution to secede. In January of 1861 they were followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. Texas seceded on February 1. While resolutions for secession were prepared in other states, no more were passed during this period.
While Buchanan did nothing, several senators made speeches in Congress trying to calm things down. The Peace Conference of 1861 was held at the Willard Hotel in Washington on February 4, 1861. Of the 33 states, 21 sent delegates. Former President John Tyler, a native of Virginia, was elected the presiding officer. The convention lasted for about two weeks. During that time a number of proposals were created that were then delivered to Congress. A number of compromises were worked out that would take the form of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution. But none were passed by Congress. At Lincoln's inauguration, he rode in a carriage beside the outgoing president. Buchanan is quoted as saying to Lincoln, "If you are as happy entering the presidency as I am leaving it, then you are a very happy man." Within weeks, four more slave states seceded and the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter.
On March 4, 1861, Lincoln gave his first inaugural address as part of his being sworn in as 16th President of the United States. The speech was primarily addressed to the people of the South. It was intended to lay out Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward the South where seven states had formed the Confederate States of America. His speech was written in a spirit of friendship toward the seceded states. He touched on several points. Lincoln promised not to interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed. He said there would be no Federal hostility towards the states that had seceded for the time being. The Federal Government would “hold, occupy, and possess” its property. It would also collect its taxes. He closed his speech with the warning:
Lincoln's presidency lasted for about four years. It ran from March 4, 1861 until he was shot by a Confederate sympathizer and died on April 15, 1865. Nearly all of his time in office was consumed by the Civil War. From his election by the Electoral College on February 15 to his inauguration on March 4, Lincoln had little time to assemble a cabinet.
Lincoln's cabinet was unique in American history. It included all of his major rivals for the 1860 Republican nomination. As part of the political negotiations leading up to the nomination, some had been promised a position in the cabinet. It was not a harmonious group as most of them did not like each other. They had different ideas about governing the country, different ethics and different personalities. In particular, Simon Cameron, was forced on Lincoln by a deal struck with the Pennsylvania delegates at the Republican Convention. He already had a reputation for being incompetent and corrupt. Per the agreement he was Lincoln's Secretary of War.
Members included:
The Lincoln administration found itself tasked with guiding the country through its darkest days. He inherited the problems from his predecessor, President James Buchanan. In his own inaugural address four years earlier, Buchan had called the issues of slavery “happily, a matter of but little practical importance.” Buchanan took the position he did not have the power to do anything about the impending civil war. He said: “It is beyond the power of any president, no matter what may be his own political proclivities, to restore peace and harmony among the states. Wisely limited and restrained as is his power under our Constitution and laws, he alone can accomplish but little for good or for evil on such a momentous question.” As the civil war approached, under Buchanan's presidency the country slid into a recession.
Rather than ignore or accept the situation, Lincoln had to mend a broken nation or see it torn apart. Between the presidential election and his inauguration, the seven states that seceded formed the Confederate States of America. Their constitution was patterned after the United States Constitution with four differences. It supported states' Sovereignty. It guaranteed slavery would always exist in the Confederate states. It did not allow the Southern Congress to establish protective tariffs. It also limited the term of president of the Confederate states to 6 years. Jefferson Davis was elected as president of the CSA. He was a Mississippi slave owner, a U.S. senator and had also been secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce. The CSA assumed several philosophical positions that differed from those of the United States. It assumed the United States was merely an association of sovereign states as they had been under the Articles of Confederation before the acceptance of the U.S. Constitution. They maintained that as such, each state was free to leave the association of states. The North saw the Union as a permanent country. Lincoln pointed out that each state had given up its own sovereignty when it ratified and accepted the Constitution. He also argued that no state had the right to revolt against their country, the United States of America. But Lincoln remained silent about the CSA from their formation until his inauguration. He repeated his campaign promise, that as President he would take no steps to stop or limit slavery in those states where it already existed. However, he did not accept the proposals made by the Peace Commission. Demonstrating his peaceful intentions, his inaugural address was aimed at preventing other Southern states from joining the CSA. They were not enemies. He would not attack the CSA but would keep and maintain all property of the United States government that existed in the Southern states.
A day after his inauguration, Lincoln received a dispatch from Major Robert Anderson. He was the commander of Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor. He informed Lincoln that if the fort was not resupplied soon, he and his men would have to leave. Lincoln thought of a way to resupply the fort without starting any fighting. He would send unarmed supply ships to Fort Sumter. He informed CSA President Davis of his intentions. This way, the U.S. would not start any fighting but would retain the fort as Lincoln had promised they would. Immediately Davis sent General P. G. T. Beauregard to force the fort's surrender before the supply ships could arrive. At 4:30 a.m. on the morning on April 12, 1861, Confederate guns began a bombardment of Fort Sumter. After 33 hours, Major Anderson surrendered the fort. This was the start of the Civil War.
The war lasted for four years. The North did not anticipate the South would fight almost to the last man to defend its "freedom". The South had no idea that the North, led by Lincoln, would show an iron will to preserve the Union at all costs.