This is the first time I have realized the political link, at least in the press, between the Lincoln's promise to collect the revenue from the South and the Morrill Tariff Act. He was very serious about his statements, and there are several letters from Lincoln asking for the strength of the Revenue Fleet and how more ships could be added in March of 1861. The Question in the press was it Constitutional and would the South resist. How much of this was grandstanding on Lincoln's part or how serious he was in doing it is unknown, since his other plan to provoke a war at Fort Sumter, went so well that the collection of taxes was a moot point by April. This dangerous plan to collect taxes at sea in behalf of the Morrill Tariff Act makes Lincoln and the Republicans seem very desperate to push their aggenda, even if it broke all laws and provoked bloodshed. I always took his words on this subject as an excuse to resist secession too, but it seems it was more than that.

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David Upton