The Secession Crisis - Lincoln Group Open Discussion

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Laurie for sending this information:

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WILL IT BE PEACE OR WAR?

Saturday, August 26, 10-Noon
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church
1313 New York Avenue NW
Washington DC

The Lincoln Group of DC invites you to an Open Discussion of the Secession Crisis Discussion will be led by Lincoln Group of DC president John Elliff and vice president John O'Brien. The church will also hold a book sale. Cost is $15 for LGDC and NYAPC members, $20 for nonmembers. Payment may be made at the door or on-line, but reservations are requested at http://www.lincolngroup.org/aug2017.html

August 2017 Event - Lincoln Group of D.C. Home Page
http://www.lincolngroup.org

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up ...

Lincoln's election in November 1860 began a national crisis that ended with the attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers in April 1861. Those five months saw the secession of seven Deep South states, debate on compromises to prevent war, a Peace Convention, Lincoln's inauguration, and controversy over relief of Fort Sumter. Among the topics to be explored are:

-- How would the results of the 1860 election have affected the way people thought about prospects for secession?

-- What would it have been like to live in Washington, D.C., during the Secession Crisis? (Relevant sites in Washington, D.C., will be identified.)

-- In the Nullification Crisis of 1832-33 President Jackson and Congress threatened to use force to execute federal laws in South Carolina. Should President Buchanan have followed that model?

-- What considerations would Lincoln have had to weigh in dealing with proposals such as the Crittenden Compromise that were considered in Congress and at a Peace Convention?

Attached for some background are a chronology of selected events and a table with the 1860 election results state-by-state with electoral votes and % of the popular vote.

SECESSION CRISIS CHRONOLOGY
1860

11/6 Lincoln elected President. Democrats retain majority in Congress.

11/9 Lincoln thanks General Scott for his “patriotic” proposal to reinforce federal forts.

11/10 Buchanan and cabinet consider Scott’s proposal and Buchanan’s draft proclamation opposing secession and pledging to defend federal property. Action delayed.

11/10 South Carolina legislature authorizes elections for secession convention. South Carolina
Senators and other federal officials in the state resign.

11/14 Lincoln studies President Jackson’s 1832 Proclamation against Nullification.

11/20 At victory celebration Lincoln says all American citizens “are brothers of a common country;” Senator Trumbull says Republicans will not interfere with slavery in any state.

11/30 South Carolina governor tells Buchanan forts will not be attacked if no reinforcement.

12/3 Buchanan’s Annual Message to Congress says secession is unconstitutional, but federal government cannot “coerce” a state; calls for constitutional convention and amendments to protect slavery in states and federal territories. Congress forms special committees.

12/10 Lincoln tells Senator Trumbull: “No compromise on…extending slavery…. Stand firm. The tug has to come, & better now, than any time hereafter.”

12/15 Lincoln assures North Carolina Congressman Gilmer (cabinet prospect) he will not recommend abolishing slavery in DC or restricting slave trade among states; his appointments in slave states will “accommodate the people.”

12/18 Senator Crittenden of Kentucky introduces “compromise” including constitutional amendments allowing slavery in territories below the Missouri Compromise line, protecting slavery in any state, compensating owners of fugitive slaves.

12/20 South Carolina secedes and sends three commissioners to Washington.

12/21 Lincoln tells General Scott “to be as well prepared as he can to either hold, or retake, the forts, as the case may require, at and after the inauguration.”

12/24 Senator Seward, after indirectly consulting Lincoln, proposes a 13th amendment that would bar Congress from ever interfering with slavery in any state.

12/27 Major Anderson evacuates Fort Moultrie to strengthen Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. South Carolina militia seize mainland forts, arsenal, Treasury and Customs offices.

1861

Secession sequence – House/Senate members depart (except Wigfall of Texas).

1/9 Mississippi: seizes fort and military hospital
1/10 Florida: seizes arsenal and forts (except Forts Jefferson and Pickens in the Gulf).
1/11 Alabama: seizes arsenal and fort
1/18 Georgia: seizes arsenal and forts
1/26 Louisiana: seizes arsenal, forts, and U.S. Mint
2/1 Texas: seizes arsenals, forts, revenue cutter

1/9 Star of the West, unarmed merchant ship sent by Buchanan to Fort Sumter with supplies and 250 troops, is fired on by South Carolina militia, withdraws.

2/4 Union majority wins Virginia convention elections. Peace Convention meets at Willard Hall (former F Street Presbyterian Church). Confederate constitutional convention meets in Montgomery. Electoral College results formally announced at US Capitol.

2/9 Tennessee voters reject a secession convention

2/17 House Republican caucus votes to support Force Bill, based on Jackson’s 1832 model.

2/23 Lincoln arrives in Washington secretly after cross-country train visit to major cities; meets Peace Convention delegates; tells House Republicans he opposes Force Bill.

2/27 Peace Convention approves complex territorial compromise after Illinois delegates switch. (All territorial compromise proposals are soon defeated in Congress.)

3/4 (early) Congress approves a 13th Amendment barring interference with slavery in any state.

3/4 Lincoln inaugurated, pledges to “hold, occupy, and possess” federal property unless
circumstances change, and not to use force unless responding to “aggressors.”

3/15 Lincoln’s divided cabinet debates evacuating Fort Sumter in response to Major
Anderson’s request for 20,000 troops to prevent Confederate seizure.

3/29 Cabinet majority supports preparing to send provisions and troops to Fort Sumter.

4/1 Lincoln rejects Secretary Seward’s plan to evacuate Fort Sumter, hold Fort Pickens, etc.

4/6 Lincoln orders sending provisions to Fort Sumter, notifies South Carolina governor.

4/12 Confederate artillery bombard Fort Sumter before Union ships arrive.

4/15 Lincoln’s Proclamation calls for 75,000 state militia volunteers for 3 months under Militia Act of 1795.