Beginning of Essay
From the time the South demanded the return of Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens, tension had been building in expectation of Lincoln’s reply. The options available to Lincoln were limited, and those that were available were further limited by constraints of time an ....

Middle of Essay
.... really an option, however, because abandoning his soldiers at this fort would not only lower the morale of his entire army, but could also turn many of his supporters against him. So, needless to say, Lincoln could not really consider this as an option. Lincoln, for a time, also entertained the idea of compromise. The southern resolve was so concrete that this idea was abandoned rather quickly. Another idea, proposed by Secretary of State Seward, was to abandon Fort Sumter and concentrate on Fort Pickens. Lincoln did not accept this idea either, mainly because abandoning a fort anywhere in the South would recognize the South as an independent natio ....