Hello,

I find your post helpful too.

To the Southern people the majority thought the First Inaugural was nothing more than an announcement for war. Letters to certain Southerners and the odd speech was not what Southerners wanted in communication. They wanted somebody that would show real concern for their interest. In the weeks after his election Lincoln received many letters of advice asking him to visit several of the large cities in the South, to press the flesh, and meet with them personally. The possibilities of him going to meet the Southern people after being elected in cooling tensions are very great. For whatever reasons Lincoln locked himself away for three months and the country steadily unraveled.

The mind set of the South was Lincoln was an unknown, a member of a radical and dangerous party now in control of the government for the first time, a citizen of a hostle section of the country, with no interest in the South, and was now in control of their nation and the laws. They never met him, never saw him and never heard him speak. The South needed Lincoln to show he really cared about them and that would mean he should have put all his efforts just calming them down, right after he was elected. He did not.

It was not Lincolns fault the country was in the state it was when by the time he was sworn in but anybody could see it would not take much to make it a whole lot worse. The South was restrained and had been since the Star of The West. Promises had been made by all parties and the Confederates had kept their word, but Washington was yet to deliver on giving up the Forts as promised. Lincoln came in and, well, we know the rest.

"What would George Washington have done? What would Andrew Jackson have done?"

Good question and I play the game. My opinion is Abraham Lincoln was no George Washington or Andrew Jackson.

George Washington, after being sworn in would have appeased the state of South Carolina and given up the fort to prevent bloodshed, but would not have given up anything else. His power over the other Southern states would have prevented any other secessions and Virginia would have been the Southern power to shame the rest to return to the fold. South Carolina would have been a republic unto itself for about four years, then readmitted to the Union after back taxes had been paid, and Fort Sumter torn down.

Andrew Jackson, after being swore in would have personally led a Federal force of U.S. Regulars and Marines, in broad daylight, and landed on the shores of Charleston and demanded it stand down or he would kill every last secessionist with his bare hands or die trying. Knowing what was good for them, the Confederates agreed and the whole thing would have been settled over a several barrels of whiskey and tobacco plugs and everybody would have gone home happy.

______________________
David Upton