Fort Sumter became a federal outpost in a foreign country when SC seceded. SC was the ONLY state in the union whose population had a majority of black slaves. Right or wrong (and I believe it was wrong, but can understand their reasoning) the white population of SC was deathly afraid of two things. One, having seen the MO massacres and J…
Fort Sumter became a federal outpost in a foreign country when SC seceded. SC was the ONLY state in the union whose population had a majority of black slaves. Right or wrong (and I believe it was wrong, but can understand their reasoning) the white population of SC was deathly afraid of two things. One, having seen the MO massacres and John Brown's bloody attack in previous years, white South Carolinians were terrified that if freed the former slaves would massacre the white population. Two, sudden abolition of slavery would have absolutely destroyed the state's economy. When the federal government tried to resupply Fort Sumter from the sea at Lincoln's order, SC viewed it as an act of war and fired on the resupply convoy, turning it back. Southern forces then attacked Sumter, which surrendered April 14. 1861.
And the reason that was allowed to happen is because allowing for an expansion of slavery out west well beyond what most people would be allowed to happen changed the slavery outlook in the north, and the response northern populations would now expect. Lincoln forever walked a tightrope between pacifying an increasingly radical abolitionist movement, and the realities of fighting a civil war.
Lincoln still suckered the South into firing. As secession was a question, there was no determination made about federal property - which the fort was, and still was when Lincoln re-supplied the fort. That took secession off the table. As I noted in a remark somewhere else in this thread - the South had an amazing officer corps, their political leadership was about as poor as anything we complain about today.
Fort Sumter became a federal outpost in a foreign country when SC seceded. SC was the ONLY state in the union whose population had a majority of black slaves. Right or wrong (and I believe it was wrong, but can understand their reasoning) the white population of SC was deathly afraid of two things. One, having seen the MO massacres and John Brown's bloody attack in previous years, white South Carolinians were terrified that if freed the former slaves would massacre the white population. Two, sudden abolition of slavery would have absolutely destroyed the state's economy. When the federal government tried to resupply Fort Sumter from the sea at Lincoln's order, SC viewed it as an act of war and fired on the resupply convoy, turning it back. Southern forces then attacked Sumter, which surrendered April 14. 1861.
And the reason that was allowed to happen is because allowing for an expansion of slavery out west well beyond what most people would be allowed to happen changed the slavery outlook in the north, and the response northern populations would now expect. Lincoln forever walked a tightrope between pacifying an increasingly radical abolitionist movement, and the realities of fighting a civil war.
Lincoln still suckered the South into firing. As secession was a question, there was no determination made about federal property - which the fort was, and still was when Lincoln re-supplied the fort. That took secession off the table. As I noted in a remark somewhere else in this thread - the South had an amazing officer corps, their political leadership was about as poor as anything we complain about today.