The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Abraham Lincoln to Senate, Tuesday, March 26, 1861 (Refuses to release documents pertaining to Fort Sumter)
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Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and Annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.
Abraham Lincoln to Senate, Tuesday, March 26, 1861 (Refuses to release documents pertaining to Fort Sumter)
From Abraham Lincoln to Senate [Copy in William H. Seward's hand]1, March 26, 1861
(Copy)
To the Senate of the United States.
I have received a copy of a resolution of the Senate passed March 25 inst on the 25th instant requesting me, if in my opinion not incompatible with the public interest to communicate to the Senate the dispatches of Major Robert Anderson to the War Department during the time he has been in command at Fort Sumter.
On examining the correspondence thus called for I have with the highest respect for the Senate come to the conclusion that at the present moment the publication of th it would not be expe be inexpedient--
Washington, 26th March, 1861--
[Note 1 Lincoln tried to maintain as much secrecy as possible about Fort Sumter in the earliest weeks of his administration. Here he seems to have been complying with the advice of the secretary of state. Only the word "Copy" is in Lincoln's hand in this document.]