Keith;
As to this tangent it was introduced by you back on page two of this thread. In that tread you stated the Democrats started the "Civil War". This is of course a total untruth. The War was unconstitutionally started by Lincoln himself, a Republican.
This war was NOT a Civil War as the Confederacy never tried to take over the Us Government, but simply Peacefully remove themselves from it. In fact you will find that Neither side ever officially declared war against the other, neither was there any kind of treaty made at the end, they just quit shooting.
Yes, it is true the Confederacy fired the first shots at Sumter. They were coerced to this by Lincoln. The Fort was on South Carolina soil. SC had asked Lincoln on several occasions to remove the Union troops from this fort. They offered to reimburse the /us for the price of the fort & to safely transport the troops out of Charleston Harbor to awaiting US Transport ships. Instead Lincoln sent ships loaded with reinforcement troops, provisions and arms. As these ships approached the harbor General Beauregard decided his only option was to physically take the fort before it could be reinforced. This was accomplished. In the entire battle one Union soldier & no Confederates were killed. This man was
not killed by direct enemy fire but by a powder explosion inside the fort, no doubt an indirect result of the bombardment. When Lincoln was informed of the surrender he simply said, Well no matter, our mission has been accomplished (not a direct quote but in my words is what he said).
Lincoln was not a dummy, he knew he had not the authority to declare war, so he didn't. Instead he pulled up a factor from the constitution which allowed the President to send in federal troops when a situation arose that was threatening civilian lives & was out of control of local law enforcement. George Washington had used this when he sent troops to
Pennsylvania to put down the "Whiskey Rebellion". The situation did not exist at Charleston as it did in Penn, civilians were not being threatened nor was local law enforcement. Never-the-less Lincoln immediately called upon each state of the union to send men & arms to put down the rebellion. At this point 4 additional states seceded, stating they would not bring arms to bear upon the Southern Brethren. Missouri, Kentucky & Maryland were unconstitutionally prevented from doing likewise. So Yes Abraham Lincoln started the War. By his own words it was not because of Slavery. His reasons for not ceding Fort Sumter to SC were two fold. 1st as Charleston Harbor was a Major Seaport for both imports & exports he did not want to lose the tariff there. In this he failed. 2nd he "Wanted" to start the war but he wanted to coerce the "South" into firing the first shot. In this he succeeded.
Calling Abe Honest is about like calling Satan himself honest. He should be referred as Sly Old Abe.
Stan
Great Post, Thanks.
Miller/TN
