What if SC had not fired?

I suppose the question behind the question is "was Lincoln determined to have a war in any event?" If so, how well could that have been sold to the North without a casus belli like Ft Sumter? Could there have been a peaceful parting of the ways?

 

I think there was such a simmering of so many hot button issues (including, but not excluded to state's rights and slavery)...that if SC had not fired, someone else may have.

 

So are you saying that secession alone made war inevitable?

 

If the federals were able to resupply (and later to reinforce) Ft. Sumter, it seems to me that the tensions would only be increased.

Geographically, Ft. Sumter is in a position to intercept trading vessels entering and exiting the harbor. If SC had not "gone to the mat" to oppose resupplying the fort, then I think that the federal government would have been far more likely to attempt more aggressive, albeit non-combat, measures.

IMO, it was only a matter of time after secession before SC would attack Ft. Sumter. If they had waited longer to do so, they would have been in a far less desirable position.

Just imagine if SC had delayed long enough for the Union navy to send a fleet to Charleston harbor to complement their fortified artillery battery!

 

Lincoln did not "believe in" the Declaration of Indepndance and neither has any subsequent president. Lincoln would have found another reason to start the war.