Fort Sumter

Lincoln has officially become president on March 4, 1861, and I am very excited to see what his new leadership can bring to this nation. He set a firm tone with the south immediately by saying, "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in states where is exists." The south was being foolish for seceding from the nation. I don't want to have them in the Union but they won't be nearly as strong without the north and they need to be reassured that their slavery will be safe. My husband told me that Lincoln set the south straight by saying, "No state upon its own mere action, can lawfully get out of the Union." This quote completely changed everything and although Lincoln wanted to avoid violence this didn't happen. When southern states decided to seceded from the nation they obtained the forts and arsenals within the boarder. This left the north with only four forts, the south even took the most important one. Fort Sumter was in South Carolina and it bordered the harbor. President Buchanan attempted to send more troops and supplies to the fort in January 1861; however, the ship was fired at by Confederate guns. The unarmed ship was forced to sail away. Zachary told me about the conflict Lincoln is face with. Lincoln must either risk holding onto these forts or surrender to the demands of the Confederates. Without materials the troops are in desperate need of food and other supplies by April. My husband told me that Lincoln didn't want to become involved in violence with the south and he wanted to bring them back into the Union peacefully. This lead him to the decision to either try to give more supplies to the fort or to let the Confederates take over. I unfortunately think that the nation has found themselves in an inevitable war but Lincoln didn't want to harm his own country by setting off a conflict that could lead to war. He made the decision to only aid the soldiers by sending food and not any weapons; however, South Carolinians were still suspicious and declared that the fort had to surrender to the command of the Confederacy. This started much conflict, Union soldiers refused to surrender and this lead to the Confederates shooting at the fort and eventually due to the limited supplies the Union troops ran out of ammunition and the commander surrendered. The south is so abusive, they take advantage of the weak and manipulate them so they can win. As can be assumed the north was in shock and Lincoln took a stand by declaring that "insurrection" still remained. 75,000 were called upon to fight the Confederacy but the south quickly gathered troops and they were trained quickly.  The north found that it had lost the states of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina as quickly made their way to the confederacy and joined them. This conflict that started as a little anger became so much more I don't know if this nation  is ready for the violence that I predict is to come.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

"Fort Sumter, Before and After the Bombardment." CardCow Vintage Postcards. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.