The first secession movement was met by force, first under President Buchannan with his attempt to reenforce Fort Sumter, and second under President Lincoln with two simultanious attempts to reenforce Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens- THEN after that Lincoln called for the invasion (declared war) of the first set of seven seceding states by the other states still in the Union. This then caused the second phase of secessions (Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina); almost caused the border states to join the Confederacy; the Unionist cause in the South crumbled; and in mass the South rose up to defend themselves.
Those Lincoln men involved in the relief of Fort Pickens and Fort Sumter stated "This is the beginning of the war which every statesman and soldier has foreseen since the passage of the South Carolina ordinance of secession."- the date of this statement- April 6th 1861, nearly six weeks before Virginia's and North Carolina's secession was ratified; four weeks before Arkansas; eight weeks before Tennessee.
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David Upton