History That Doesn't Suck - 44: Abraham Lincoln Becomes President of the Divided States of America

Episode Date: August 5, 2019

“Mary, Mary, we are elected!”  This is the story of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States … which means it’s also the story of secession. The presidential election of 1860 is split between four men: southerners John C. Breckinridge and John Bell, and northerners Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Incredibly, Lincoln pulls off enough electoral college votes to win the presidency outright! He does so without a single electoral vote from the south. The election of this anti-slavery Republican is the final straw for the South. Citing the “increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery,” South Carolina secedes. Six others follow before Lincoln even takes the oath of office! They band together to create the Confederate States of America. Some think this secession talk will pass. Others think it can be undone peacefully. That theory will get tested fast as US troops at South Carolina’s Fort Sumter continue to stand their ground. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette  come see a live show get HTDS merch or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So come together and find your holiday magic, only at Starbucks. Welcome to History That Doesn't Suck. I'm your professor, Greg Jackson, and as in the classroom, my goal here is to make rigorously researched history come to life as your storyteller. Each episode is the result of laborious research with no agenda other than making the past come to life as you learn. If you'd like to help support this work, receive ad-free episodes, bonus content, and other exclusive perks, I invite you to join the HTDS membership program. Sign up for

a seven-day free trial today at htdspodcast.com membership or click the link in the episode notes. Welcome to History That Doesn't Suck. I'm your professor, Greg Jackson, and I'd like to tell you a story. It's a wet and rainy Christmas day, 1860, but I doubt Major Robert Anderson's feeling all that festive given his delicate and potentially volatile situation. We're in Charleston, South Carolina, where the handsome, square-jawed, 55-year-old Kentuckian is serving as commander of the forts defending the city's harbor. He's held the post for the last year or so, but things have gotten exceptionally dicey since Abraham Lincoln won election as president of the United States last month. I mean, there's genuine talk of a South Carolina mob attacking him and his federal

troops. Robert discussed this growing concern with Charleston's mayor and other local leaders back on December 5th, and they assured him they'll keep the people in line. But, and they were very clear on this, when South Carolina secedes, yeah, not if, but when, if he doesn't hand over the keys and clear out, there will be blood. Well, South Carolina pulled the trigger on that by formally stating its withdrawal from the Union just five days ago on December 20th. Meanwhile, Secretary of War John B. Floyd has given Robert nearly mutually exclusive orders. He's to defend his position with a mere 60 plus troops, but he's also not to piss off the people who want to seize all federal anything, especially military posts within South Carolina. What? What does that even mean?

It's a crap situation. But of course, those are the kind of orders a secretary of war who's planning to defect would give. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. So Roberts decided to do something daring. He's going to expose his entire force, roughly 60 men, 10 officers, and their families to mob or militia violence and move them from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. Let me explain the

layout of the harbor so you better grasp the risk and potential reward of Robert's play. Sailing into Charleston's east-facing harbor, there are two major defenses, one to the north on the edge of Sullivan's Island called Fort Moultrie, the other to the south and just a bit farther inside the harbor, situated on a man-made island maybe four miles from the city. This one is called Fort Sumter. Two other forts are another two or three miles deeper in the harbor and within a mile or two of the city of Charleston itself. To the north side, Castle Pinckney, and to the south side, Fort Johnson. But Sumter is the real winner.

It's still under construction, but this five-sided fort boasts walls 40 feet high and 12 feet thick. Hell yes, sure beats Fort Moultrie's dilapidated, almost inviting in attack state. If Robert really wants to avoid bailing on his post, Fort Sumter's the place to hunker down. And hopefully, with such a strong position, no one will attack him, giving the bigwigs in DC more time to try to settle things peacefully. Because this clear thinking leader knows that once a battle breaks out, it's on. Civil war will be here, but Robert still hopes that can be avoided. All he has to do is magically move 70 men, 45 women, and children to boot across a mile of harbor water being patrolled by potentially

hostile South Carolina ships. Good luck. With the rain gone the following morning, Robert makes his bold, covert move. First, he has young Lieutenant Norman Hall move the wives, children, and supplies to unoccupied Fort Johnson. Some curious locals don't like seeing three flat-bottomed boats preparing to move out, but when Norman responds that they're getting ready to evacuate the families, ah, well, that's different. Any sign of federal troops leaving is a good thing. Around noon, the boats push off. When they get to Fort Johnson, they'll stay there until Norman hears two cannons signaling it's safe to join the troops at Fort Sumter. That is, if everything goes according to plan.

Meanwhile, Robert, who wants to keep the Charlestonians from suspecting anything, has his men hard at work building up the fortifications around Fort Moultrie. Of course, this looks great to the locals. They figure Robert's going to have to bail any day now, so by all means, they're fine with him reinforcing this fort. But it's just a ruse. The Kentuckian has Captain John Foster securing and hiding boats to move the troops, and soon, Captain Abner Doubleday takes on the most dangerous task.

He'll be the first to move on Fort Sumter. Trying not to look like they're organized or going anywhere, Abner's three boats spread out as they row across the mile or so south to Fort Sumter. But as they row, a patrol boat moves closer to Abner. It seems to be closing in on him. John Foster and six others watch this from Fort Moultrie they take aim with their cannon will this be it? the start of the Civil War? thankfully no

quick thinking Abner has his men ditch their coats so they look less like soldiers and more like a small crew just rowing across the harbor the ship passes them and no shots are fired. Abner lands on the island. Weapons at the ready, they charge into the fort. Abner takes the workmen inside as prisoners. He's not taking any chances they'll go warn their fellow southerners. It takes multiple trips, but Robert gets his roughly 70 men to

Fort Sumter by about 8 p.m. He now fires a cannon from his newly occupied fort. His last remaining men at Fort Moultrie respond in kind. Ah, that's the signal. Back at Fort Johnson, Norman gets the wives and children secured in their boats and they shove off for Fort Sumter. Well, almost. First, he has to tie up the civilian captain of these boats who, at the sound of those two cannons, put two and two together and realize the women and children evacuation thing was all a big fat lie

and he wants to go warn the city. Okay, now they can shove off and row to Fort Sumter. Meanwhile, the last troops at Fort Moultrie spike the cannon. That is, they drive spikes into the guns' vents, put the carriages of any guns that could hit Fort Sumter to flame, and then, just for good measure, they shove those guns off the fort's walls. Oh, and they axe the flagpole. Because they're not about to let a South Carolina flag replace the Stars and Stripes.

Hot damn! Robert did it. He got all of his troops, their wives, and the children from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter with four months of supplies, no less. Oh, Charleston's population and leaders are pissed when word of this maneuver gets out. To which Robert replies, I have not reinforced the fort. I have simply moved my command here. All right, people, this is it. Today we finish paving the path to the Civil War. First, I'll regale you with the dramatic

Democratic Party splintering Lincoln elect, presidential election of 1860. Then it's time for secession. South Carolina starts the party, but six other slave states soon follow suit and set up the Confederate States of America. We'll next hear about two presidents taking the oath of office, Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Alabama, and Abraham Lincoln up in Washington, D.C. And then we can circle back to Robert at Fort Sumter because the poor guy will still be stuck here these many months later. Lincoln will have to make the choice. Does he risk starting a civil war by reinforcing these troops?

Or does he abandon the fort to the Confederacy? We'll find out. It'll be an eventful and tense year, so let's head back eight months and get this presidential election going. Rewind. It's April, 1860, and both Lincoln and his old debate partner, Stephen the Little Giant Douglas, are hoping to get their respective party's nomination for the presidency. But Stephen has recently gotten himself into deep trouble with Southern Dems over two issues. Let me give you a full picture of the whole out of which Stephen needs

to dig himself. In the highly publicized 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, Stephen introduced and backed the Freeport Doctrine. Yeah, I touched on this in the last episode, but I'll give you a little more info now. During the Freeport- Illinois debate, Lincoln threw a powerful right hook at Stephen. Yeah, I'm back to boxing metaphors. Anyway, on the attack, Lincoln demanded to know how Stephen's popular sovereignty concept could possibly survive the Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling, which guaranteed slave owners the right to carry their slave property into any U.S. territory. And seriously, we all know the popular sovereignty and the Dred Scott ruling at this point, right? Good, because I'm not explaining that stuff again. If not, go listen to the last few episodes.

Anyway, lightning-quick Stephen bobbed away from Lincoln's punch and came up with the Freeport Doctrine. Legal-minded Stephen argued in this new doctrine that territories could essentially abolish slavery by doing nothing to protect it. No slave owner would risk bringing their human chattel into a territory without local officials to catch fugitive slaves or punish those who aided runaways. Northerners liked this idea, but Southerners were pissed at the seemingly two-faced Stephen. In response to the Freeport Doctrine, Southern congressmen like Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis immediately began demanding explicit federal protection for all forms of property, including slaves, in U.S. territories. In spite of this pushback, Senator Stephen Douglas just kept digging. He pissed off

Southern sympathizer President James Buchanan by refusing to vote to ratify Kansas' Lecompton Constitution in 1859. The slavery-upholding Constitution brought about by blatant voter fraud totally went against popular sovereignty in the territories. The president and Stephen broke up their bromance over this issue as Democratic Party leaders muscled the little giant out of his cushy, powerful seat as chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories. So instead of being in a strong position as the premier Democratic presidential hopeful of early 1860, Stephen has plummeted on the political leaderboard. Nonetheless, the Illinois senator still has presidential ambitions. So let's travel to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston,

South Carolina, and see if party leaders will make Stephen's dreams come true. The DNC opens on April 23, 1860, but this meeting totally blows. Grumpy, hot, travel-weary delegates gather in Charleston's stuffy Institute Hall and try desperately to hammer out a party platform. After five days of tense debates, the platform committee finally submits two reports to the floor. Instead of taking a relaxing harbor tour where they can enjoy Charleston sights and sea breezes, all the delegates now have to vote on which policies to adopt. The first report embraces the Southern, Jefferson Davis-backed demand for slavery protection in the territories, declaring that the federal government has the duty, quote, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons

and property in the territories. Close quote. But the other report follows Stephen Douglas' popular sovereignty, Freeport Doctrine line with vague, indefinite language. It simply states that it's the, quote, duty of the United States to provide ample and complete protection for all its citizens. Close quote. Many Southerners are done putting up with nebulous niceties. They want a concrete platform that repudiates the Freeport Doctrine and popular

sovereignty once and for all, or they will walk out of this convention and never return. The voting deadlocks, with Southern delegates favoring the Jefferson Davis style to protect when necessary platform and northerners supporting the Stephen Douglas popular sovereignty voter protecting platform. Then Alabama's quiet, ailing delegation president, Pope Walker, solemnly takes the floor. Delegates strain to hear his whispered drawl as Pope resolutely declares that the Alabama delegation is retiring from the convention. Quote, justice had not been done by the South. Close quote.

And never again would, to continue quoting, any representation from the state of Alabama grace that convention. Close quote. Silence. Pope's firm promises met with stunned silence. Then the dominoes start falling. Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas delegates stand up and follow the Alabama delegates out of Institute Hall into the muggy heat. The next day, Tuesday, May 1st, Georgia delegates walk out as well.

After losing 50 Southern delegates, the gutted, crippled, eviscerated Democratic National Convention is screwed. They don't have a platform, a candidate, or a huge chunk of their delegates. Well, F this. The DNC suspends its convention and decides to reconvene in Baltimore on June 17, 1860. They hope that cooler heads, and maybe cooler weather, will help them stitch the once national party back together. But no. The Baltimore Convention, or DNC 2.0, glitches from the start. On June 20, the platform of the convention collapses. Not the ideological political platform, but the actual orchestra platform inside the Front Street Theater where the convention is being held. No one is critically injured, but talk about a bad omen.

In the first days of the convention, Southern pro-slavery Dems break off from their Northern partners. The abandoned, now mostly Northern Democrats nominate Stephen Douglas as their presidential candidate anyway. The Southern pro-slavery Dems hastily put together their own convention and nominate Kentuckian and current VP John Breckinridge as their presidential candidate. Damn, what a mess. Let's leave Stephen to deal with it and catch up with Lincoln. Maybe the Illinois rail splitter will have more success than the little giant. In early 1860, simultaneous to the National Democratic Party implosion, Lincoln is ramping up his presidential bid. Using the national recognition, acclaim, and momentum he gained in the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates,

Lincoln accepts several public speaking invitations and fleshes out his political platform. He also takes the advice of Republican Party insider Jesse Fell and writes up a short life sketch, you know, to help his potential voters get to know him. While Lincoln just sticks to the facts, log cabin, wild Kentucky frontier, limited education, a loving stepmom who encourages the hell out of him, the quintessentially American rags-to-riches story tugs at the heartstrings of many Americans. In February 1860, the tall, rail-thin man also gets his picture taken. The photographer hems and haws over Lincoln's pose,

asking the gangly, long-boned candidate to pull up his shirt collar more than a few times. Abraham finally quips that the photographer really just wants him, quote, to shorten his neck, close quote. Ha! Add ability to poke fun at self to Lincoln's list of qualifications. Okay, you can see what Lincoln's doing here, right? Just like any presidential candidate in the 21st century, Lincoln is using the media and technology of his day

to reach out to voters. If he were running in 2020, he'd have a search engine, optimized website, and professionally managed social media feeds. But it's 1860, so he has a short bio and a photo. Anyway, on the lecture circuit, Lincoln tweaks his phrasing and metaphors to strengthen his political message at each speaking engagement. On March 5th, 1860, Lincoln gives a talk in hartford connecticut and compares allowing slavery to expand to allowing snakes in a child's bed if i saw a venomous snake crawling in the road any man would say i might seize the nearest stick and kill it but if i found that snake in a bed with my

children that would be another question i might hurt the children more than the snake, and it might bite them. But if there was a bed newly made up, to which the children were to be taken, and it was proposed to take a batch of young snakes and put them there with them, I take it no man would say there was any question how I ought to decide. The new territories are the newly made bed to which our children are to go, and it lies with the nation to whether they shall have snakes mixed up with them or not. Moderate Lincoln deftly acknowledges the protections that slavery has where it exists and does not argue for abolition, but he unequivocally argues against allowing the venomous practice to expand with

the nation. And he makes his point in a way that is accessible to the everyday American man and woman. Even so, as the Republican National Convention opens on May 16, 1860, the Illinois rail splitter knows he's facing an uphill battle against his worthy-of-respect competitors. Henry Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates. But Lincoln has at least one ace up his sleeve. The convention is happening practically in his backyard, Chicago, Illinois. It takes the party chiefs a whopping two days to write up a party platform that includes, obviously, an opposition to slavery expansion, but also a protective tariff and a homestead act to help Western settlers establish land claims. So now what? Oh right, the party still needs to

select a candidate to run on this shiny new platform. Current New York Senator Henry Seward and his political allies figure he has the nomination in the bag. He has national clout, name recognition, and popularity in the Northeast. However, a few Republicans fear that Henry's widely known abolitionist leanings make him too extreme to win a national election. So politically moderate Lincoln's friends start putting his name out there. The night before the May 18th presidential nominee balloting, Lincoln's backers host several late-night backroom meetings and do some minor favor trading. To be clear, Lincoln lobbyists are not pulling an election of 1824 John Quincy Adams slash Henry Clay corrupt

bargain like you heard about in episode 27. Lincoln's friends are simply making non-binding, vague promises to the right guys in border states like Indiana and Pennsylvania. Henry, Salmon, and Edwards' backers are doing the same thing. Lincoln's guys are just better at it. Which shows that the next morning's balloting, supposed favorite Henry doesn't come close to the necessary 233 votes to secure the nomination. Seems like his guys didn't hand out enough swag bags last night, huh? By the third round of voting, Lincoln's tally skyrockets to 231 and a half. Yep, half. Don't ask. At any rate, he's so close to that 233 threshold. The on-edge crowd watches as Ohio chairman David Carter climbs up on his delegation's table and announces that he will switch four votes to Lincoln. The 10,000 strong pro-Lincoln crowd of spectators takes about two seconds to do the math,

adding fractions can be tricky to be fair, before erupting. One reporter compares the euphoric crowd to wild animals. He claims, quote, a herd of buffaloes or lions could not have made a more tremendous roaring, close quote. Delegates rushed to change their votes so that, in the end, Lincoln's nomination is unanimous. After three days of hard work, the convention turns into an all-night outdoor party. People holding fence rails in support of Abraham Lincoln, the Illinois rail splitter, parade through the streets while bands play. Someone even fires a cannon.

But Lincoln's not in Chicago to join the revelry. Down in Springfield, a crowd of people throng Lincoln's tasteful house, and he meets them at the door. Standing before his elated supporters, he simply states that he did not suppose the honor of such a visit was intended particularly for himself as a private citizen, but rather as the representative to a great party. And as that newly nominated representative, Lincoln has to find a way to bring this still somewhat disparate party of former Whigs, Know-Nothings, and Northern Democrats together. But as Stranger Things has taught us, if D&D

playing middle school nerds can befriend popular, stylishly coiffed Steve Harrington, anything's possible. I mean, it's even possible for the Starcourt Mall to be... Nah, I'm just kidding. No spoilers. Point being, Lincoln can handle this. So now we have Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate, Stephen Douglas as the Northern Democratic candidate, and John Breckinridge as the Southern Democratic nominee. But another Southern splinter group wants in on this heated, messy, chaotic presidential race. Southern ex-whigs, now calling themselves constitutional unionists, nominate Tennessee's John Bell. Basically, the presidential election of 1860 is Abraham versus Stephen in the North and John Breckinridge versus John Bell in the South. Lincoln does rally the full support of

his party and the united behind their man Republicans run a strong campaign based on a well-rounded platform. He rarely makes appearances or gives speeches, instead taking time to personally respond to the endless stream of letters from fans, supporters, and well-wishers. In October, bold and wise 11-year-old Grace Bettle writes to Lincoln to suggest that he grow a beard for two reasons. One, quote, Your face is so thin. And two, to continue quoting, all the ladies like whiskers. Close quote. How can Lincoln say no to that sound reasoning?

He responds to Grace asking, as to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now? But this question is rhetorical. Without waiting for Grace's response, Lincoln immediately starts growing his iconic beard. Seems like we have the fashion advice of a tween to thank for that enduring Lincoln trademark. By election day, Tuesday, November 6th, 1860, the beard is coming in nicely. That afternoon, Lincoln heads over to the Springfield polls, but just to vote in the local elections, not to vote for himself. Then he goes home for a quiet dinner with his wife, Mary, and their boys. Thanks to the burgeoning telegraph network east of the Mississippi River, election results start pouring in about 7 p.m.

Lincoln goes to the statehouse to wait for news. And while he's putting on a cool and collected act, observers can see right through it. One reporter writes, quote, There was a nervous twitch on his countenance when the messenger from the telegraphic offices entered that revealed an anxiety within that no coolness from without could repress. Close quote. Around nine, Lincoln and several friends

decide to ditch the middleman and go hang out in the telegraph offices. But after two and a half hours of having the messengers come directly to them, there are still no definitive results from New York. Lincoln currently has 145 electoral votes, but he needs the Empire State's 35 to get a full majority of the electoral vote. Local Republicans are sure of a Lincoln victory

and host a small dinner party for their man. Nothing like a late night snack to calm the nerves, right? Finally, during the dinner, one last telegraph comes in revealing that, while the northern Dems performed better in NYC, Republicans have taken the state as a whole. This gives Lincoln 180 electoral votes, enough for the win. So just after midnight on Wednesday, November 7th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln learns that he has beaten Stephen Douglas and the two other candidates. He's officially the president-elect of the United States of America. Despite the late hour, church bells ring and celebratory crowds throng the streets. Relieved and excited, Lincoln admits he's a very happy man. Who could help being so under such circumstances? He takes the final telegraph home to show his wife and share

the news of his win. Mary's waiting up for him, and as victorious Abraham enters the house, he calls out, Mary, Mary, we are elected. Mary is elated. I can't confirm this, but knowing her, I imagine she goes to sleep with visions of inaugural balls and White House dinner parties in her head. But not Lincoln. The enormity and weight of the commander-in-chief position immediately drops onto his rail-splitting shoulders, crushing the initial joy he felt. He later recalls,

I began at once to feel that I needed support, others to share with me the burden. So rather than count sheep, Lincoln begins to outline a cabinet of able, experienced, strong-minded politicians. And his former Republican presidential rivals, Henry Seward, Sam and Chase, and Edward Bates, top the list. Now you might be thinking, that's crazy. The country is on the brink of war. Take some friends with you to the White House, Abe. But Lincoln has a plan.

He later justifies his choice to bring opponents, rivals even, into his inner sanctum by explaining, quote, we needed the strongest men of the party in the cabinet. We needed to hold our people together. I had looked the party over and concluded that these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services. Close quote. Damn. Right from the start, Lincoln makes cool, calculated, forward-looking decisions. He appoints Henry Seward as Secretary of State, Salmon Chase as Secretary of the Treasury, and Edward Bates as Attorney General. But he's not the only one considering the future of the country. Facing the prospect of a Republican, Northern, slavery-containing president, South Carolina politicians have a decision of their own to make. show with millions of YouTube subscribers comes the MinuteEarth podcast. Every episode of the show

dives deep into a science question you might not even know you had, but once you hear the answer, you'll want to share it with everyone you know. Why do rivers curve? Why did the T-Rex have such tiny arms? And why do so many more kids need glasses now than they used to? Spoiler alert, it isn't screen time. Our team of scientists digs into the research and breaks it down into a short, entertaining explanation jam-packed with science facts and terrible puns. Subscribe to MinuteEarth wherever you like to listen. From Fort Sumter to the Battle of Gettysburg. From the Emancipation Proclamation to Appomattox Courthouse.

From the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Compromise of 1877. From Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. To Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history. I'm Rich. And I'm Tracy. And we're the hosts of a podcast that takes a deep dive into that era when a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves.

And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans. Look for The Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts. The day after Lincoln's election, a federal courtroom in Charleston becomes the stage for what is probably the first controlled, deliberate rebellion against the United States government. That morning, grand jury foreman and staunch secessionist Robert Gordon refuses to deliver his jury's verdict to Judge Andrew McGrath. Robert claims that the election results have ended any and all federal jurisdiction in South Carolina, so he refuses to participate in the proceedings of this federal court. How does Judge Andrew, who has secessionist sympathies of his own, react? If he lets any Tom, Dick, or Harry

defy federal authority and close a court, then any other rabble-rouser might just walk down the road and seize a federal armory. It'll be John Brown anarchy all over again. Andrew won't allow South Carolina to devolve into such mobocracy. Instead, he takes the reins. The 40-something stoic judge stands and declares that, quote, so far as I am concerned, the temple of justice raised under the constitution of the United States is now closed. Close quote. Then Andrew calmly slips off his dark judicial robe and folds it over his chair as he explains that South Carolina will soon secede from the Union. To quote again, Feeling an assurance of what will be the action of the state, I consider it my duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is made by the resignation of the office I have

held. For the last time I have, as a judge of the United States, administered the laws of the United States. Close quote. Wow. And the South Carolina legislature is right behind him. While they might not have Judge Andrews Panache, the Palmetto state legislators do get to work on a secession convention immediately. Having learned their lesson from previous multi-state conventions that turned into quagmires of endless debates, South Carolina vows to move ahead alone. Basically, they just want to get the hell out of Dodge before Lincoln can take office. So, on December 20, 1860, only six weeks after the election of Lincoln and Judge Andrew McGrath's symbolic bloodless revolution-style closing of his federal court, delegates from all over the

state gather at Charleston. All 169 delegates vote for secession. All of them. While 3,000 cheering spectators watch, each man signs his name to the official secession ordinance. At 9.15 p.m., the last man signs his name to the document that officially dissolves, quote, the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, close quote. In that moment, the crowd rushes the field. I mean the main floor of the hall. Well, for all the cheering, shouting, and back slapping going on, these celebrants may as well be a horde of excited Clemson undergrads whose team has just defeated Alabama. The convention hall can't contain the euphoric crowd as it spills out into the streets. With bands playing, fireworks going off, and flags waving,

South Carolinians have just set off a chain reaction of what they're calling a revolution. And they genuinely see themselves as revolutionaries, just like their 1776 ancestors. While street cleaners sweep up the detritus of the spontaneous celebratory December 20th parade, a small committee writes up a Declaration of the Immediate Causes which induce and justify the secession of South Carolina from the federal union, loosely based on the Declaration of Independence. This pages-long document explains how and why they are breaking up with the United States. First, the South Carolina Declaration gives a legal justification for leaving the Union, claiming that it is merely a compact between states. It explains, quote, we maintain that in every compact

between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual. That note because this framing of the legal means by which South Carolina justifies how it can leave the Union will later be conflated by some with why the Palmetto State is leaving the Union. You see the subtle but significant difference between the how and why, right? So what is the why? The Declaration of Immediate Causes spells that out too. Northerners have not been complying with the Federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which requires all states to return fugitive slaves. The Declaration asserts that, quote, an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding states to the institution of slavery has led to a disregard of their obligations and the laws of the general government have ceased to affect the objects of

the Constitution. Thus, the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding states, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation. Close quote. Damn. South Carolina is not messing around. They are tired of being told that their slave property won't be protected. Furthermore, they are tired of being told that slavery is wrong. And if Northerners insist on, quote, denouncing as sinful the institution of slavery, close quote, then they are out. The declaration closes by a varying, to quote again, a geographical line has been drawn across the union and all the states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the highest office of president of the United States whose

opinions and purpose are hostile to slavery. We therefore, the people of South Carolina, have solemnly declared that the union heretofore existing between this state and the other states of North America is dissolved, and that the state of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world as a separate and independent state. Close quote. But we shouldn't be surprised. The tension over slavery has been building literally from the foundation of the nation. In past episodes, we saw how the Constitutional Convention barely survived it, how founding father George Washington lost sleep over it as president. And compromises from the Missouri Compromise to the Compromise of 1850 to poor court rulings have all come back to this rotten element that has

eaten away at the nation's ties. To be sure, we could also look at this as a conflict between northern and southern economies, differing political persuasions or moral values, but one thing remains constant under the surface. Slavery. Well, once South Carolina approves this secession-justifying, slavery-defending document, other Southern slave-holding states follow its lead. Now, none of their secession votes are unanimous. South Carolina is definitely unique in that regard. Most other states have a pretty significant minority of cooperationists, as 21st century historians will call them, that want to hold back. It's not that they don't want to secede, it's how they want to secede. Some want to try to work something out with the feds, or at the very least,

wait for Lincoln to make the first aggressive move before seceding. Others really want to go out as a block of states in order to present a strong, intimidating front to the north. In the end though, secession moves faster than a bullet train and cooperationists have to join the movement or get run over. As one cooperationist Georgian puts it, quote, in order to act with them, we must secede with them. Close quote. After taking what must have been a pretty stressful Christmas break,

Mississippi drops out of the Union on January 9th, 1861. Florida and Alabama break off in the next two days. Then Georgia secedes on January 19th, Louisiana on January 26th, and Texas on February 1st. Northerners do not take this secession sitting down. They don't agree with South Carolina's compact between states justification for this revolution. In fact, Lincoln doesn't believe it's a revolution at all. He says revolution is a quote, moral right, close quote, that must be backed by a moral cause. Without such underpinnings, quote, revolution is no right, but simply a wicked exercise of physical power, close quote.

Some congressmen take a more conciliatory tone. In the triumph of hope over experience, these guys want to try compromising to bring back the seceding states. A specially called Senate committee has to amalgamate the compromise proposals into one palatable piece of legislation. This Crittenden Compromise, named for the poor schmuck John Crittenden, who brings it to the Senate floor, suggests extending the old Missouri Compromise Line of 3630 to the Pacific, allowing slavery into the territories. Yeah, right. Lincoln just won an election based on the promise to contain slavery. So he writes and tells congressional Republicans to kill any, quote, proposition for a compromise in regard to the extension of slavery, close quote. Without the backing of the president-elect, the crittenden compromise dies on the floor.

Not that it matters. Nothing will bring the seceded states back into the Union. Soon after Texas literally and figuratively clears out its Washington, D.C. desk and leaves town, delegates from the seven lower southern states meet in Montgomery, Alabama to form the Confederate States of America. Starting on February 4, 1861, these determined gents draft a provisional constitution, nominate a provisional president and VP, set up a bicameral legislature, and put election dates in place to make all of this governmental framework permanent within a mere six days. Okay, so they really just edit the U.S. Constitution to fit their newly created nation,

namely giving explicit protection to slavery and making individual state sovereignty more pronounced. But still, they do it in only six days. They also find the time to seize federal property, like forts and arsenals, within their state's borders, claiming these assets for the Confederacy. Without missing a beat, the Confederate government swears in their appointed president, Jefferson Davis. On February 18th, standing on the second-story balcony of the columned Greco-Roman Alabama State House, Mexican-American war hero, political moderate, former Mississippi Senator Jeff Davis takes the oath of office as the president of the Confederacy, and a band plays a hastily arranged version of Dixie. Then Jeff looks out at the crowd assembled on the lawn with his deep set eyes and says,

I may disappoint your expectations. You will see many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate, but you shall not find in me either a want of zeal or fidelity to the cause. Reverently, let us invoke the God of our fathers to guide and protect us with the continuance of his favor ever gratefully acknowledged,

we may hopefully look forward to success, to peace, and prosperity. At this, women in the crowd throw magnolia blossoms and small bouquets at Jeff's feet and the crowd cheers. He may have the world's worst goatee, but damn, that man can deliver a speech. Want to learn how you can make smarter decisions with your money? Well, I've got the podcast for you. I'm Sean Piles and I host NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. On our show, we help listeners like you make the most of your finances. I sit down with NerdWallet's team of nerds, personal finance experts in credit cards, banking, investing, and more. We answer your real-world money questions and break down the latest personal finance news. The nerds will give you the clarity you need by cutting through the

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What were the lives of transgender, intersex, and non-binary people like in the ancient world? We're Jen and Jenny from Ancient History Fangirl. We tell you true stories and tall tales of the ancient world. Sometimes we do it tipsy. Sometimes we have amazing guests on our show. Historians like Barry Strauss, podcasters like Liv Albert, Mike Duncan, and authors like Joanne Harris and Ben Aronovich. We take you to the top of Hadrian's Wall to watch the Roman Empire fall at the end of the world. We walk the catacombs beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent under Teotihuacan. We walk the sacred spirals of the Nazca Lines in search of ancient secrets. And we explore mythology from ancient cultures around the world. Come find us at ancienthistoryfangirl.com or wherever you get

your podcasts. Two weeks later, Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th president of the United States. There's a lot more tension and a lot less flower throwing at this Washington, D.C. inauguration. Let me give you the details. Due to a credible threat on his life, Lincoln has to sneak into his new hometown, the capital of the United States, under cover of darkness on February 23, 1861. Mary and the boys come as planned on the 4 o'clock train the next afternoon. But this does not make D.C. residents hoping to catch a glimpse of their new president happy.

The Washington Star reports, quote, the crowd indulged in one or two jokes, a little whistling, and considerable swearing. Close quote. Things are getting off on the wrong foot for Mary and Abraham.

But Lincoln puts blinders on to the criticism and focuses on his inaugural address. In one pithy, eloquent speech, he's got to avoid starting a war with the hurriedly constructed Confederacy and entice the upper south slave states to stay in the Union. No sweat, right? True to form, Lincoln sends drafts of his speech to trusted friends and politically astute rivals. He needs expert input, not sycophantic yes-men. It's like what Dr. Leo Marvin says in the movie What About Bob, I need feedback. Lincoln gets solid feedback from several sources, but former presidential rival and Secretary of State-to-be Henry Se, offers the most helpful and concrete criticisms.

In an early draft of the speech, Lincoln claims that he will use, quote, all the powers at my disposal to reclaim the public property and places which have fallen, to hold, occupy, and possess these and all other property and places belonging to the government. Close quote. But Henry and another friend convinced the president-elect to dial that language back. No need to kick this hornet's nest by threatening to reclaim seized federal property. That will only make Lincoln the aggressor and alienate the still hanging on by-on-by-a-thread upper south. Lincoln spends days poring over every word of the all-important closing paragraph of his address. He needs to stand his ground and plead for peace, reassure the Union and repudiate the Confederacy, maintain the ties that still exist, and repair the broken-by-secession cords of the United States of America.

Henry offers potent, powerful words that fit the bill. His draft reads in part, quote, the mystic chords of memory which proceeding from so many battlefields and so many patriot graves pass through all the hearts and hearths in this broad continent of ours will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of the nation. Perfect. With his edited, thought-through speech in hand, Lincoln is ready to take the oath of office. At noon on March 4, 1861, President James Buchanan arrives at the Willard Hotel to escort Lincoln and his family to the inauguration. With credible death threats still circulating,

hundreds of troops stand guard in the crowds that line Pennsylvania Avenue. General-in-Chief Winfield Old Fuss and Feathers Scott also has sharpshooters positioned on the rooftops and cavalry at the ready to throw down at the slightest hint of trouble. But the only disturbance comes from a few people's shoes. As New Englanders walk along behind Lincoln's carriage, their spiked winter shoes clatter on the pavers. The metal heel pegs, designed for traction in the seemingly ever-present snow and ice of northern climates, are useless in more temperate Washington, D.C. Well, useless except to put everyone on high alert with their incessant staccato noise that sound like, quote, sharp, cracking, rasping sort of detonation at regular intervals, close quote, according to the Evening

Star newspaper. Once police figure out what's causing the racket, they do nothing because they aren't TSA and will let everyone keep their shoes on. Joking aside, knowing the source of the disconcerting noise lets the crowd breathe a collective sigh of relief and the swearing-in proceeds as planned. Mary and the boys sit in their second row seats on the small, specially constructed inaugural platform at the Capitol building. Abraham Lincoln takes center stage. He walks to the small podium and prepares to address the nearly 30,000 Americans on the lawns. Now, this country lawyer knows his manners and removes his tall, silk hat before beginning. However, there's not enough room for his notes and his hat on this dinky table. Gracious loser and fellow Illinoisian Stephen Douglas offers to take the hat and holds it in his hands during the entire ceremony.

Lincoln opens his vital to the nation's future speech by promising that he has, quote, no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. Close quote. He knows that slavery lies at the heart of the seceding state's grievances, and he doesn't shy away from the issue. One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. He goes on to argue the cause of the union, stating emphatically that it can't be broken up for any reason. Lincoln also vows to

hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government. Okay, so he does drop the menacing reclaim, but he doesn't just roll over and say, it's okay Confederacy, you can have our forts either. Carefully threading the needle between peace and war, the Black Hawk war veteran makes clear that he is not advocating war. In fact, Lincoln outright states, He simply wants to put this nation back together. Leaning heavily on Henry's suggestions, Lincoln closes his speech with these poetic words, are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every

battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the course of the union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. After calling on Americans to take the high road, Lincoln gets sworn in as the 16th President of the United States by Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney. You can breathe easy now, Lincoln. The hard part's over, right? Abraham, Mary, and the boys head to the White House directly after the swearing-in, and, as if to underscore that Lincoln is walking into a den of lions, former President James Buchanan says to Abraham,

If you are as happy, my dear sir, on entering the house as I am in leaving it and returning home, you are the happiest man in this country. Close quote. Right away, Mary, Willie, and Tad begin making James's bachelor pad of a white house into their home. Mary puts her 10 and seven-year-old sons in the second floor, northeast bedroom, just across the hall from their dad's relatively small southeast corner room. She takes the larger bedroom that connects to Lincoln's and turns the curiously shaped oval room on the second floor into the family library. Lincoln's offices take up the entire west side of the floor, and right away Lincoln spends more hours than not in these rooms. On Tuesday, March 5th, the first full day of his presidency, the Illinois lawyer and his brand new cabinet inherit a major and pressing problem.

Yeah, yeah, seven states have seceded and set up a new government. But more urgently, there are some 60-odd guys running out of food in an unfinished island stronghold off the coast of South Carolina called Fort Sumter. And now we've come full circle. As you heard in this episode's opening, Robert moved his men to this Charleston Harbor fort to keep them safe back in December. But he hasn't received any supplies, nor can he buy them from pro-Confederacy local merchants. Lincoln's happy-to-be-out-of-the-hot-seat predecessor, James, tried to send food and men in January, but that didn't work out.

When South Carolina's militia fired on the unarmed ship, the captain retreated without dropping off the groceries. So here we are, two months later, and Robert and his men are basically sitting ducks in the increasingly hostile Charleston Harbor. What is the Greenhorn president going to do? After a March 15th cabinet meeting and a letter exchange with General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, Lincoln realizes he is taking the hardest one-question test of his life. His options on this multiple-choice quiz are A. He can evacuate the fort,

essentially handing it over to the Confederacy. B, he can use every gun, ship, and soldier he can get his hands on and resupply the fort by force. C, he can bide his time, of which he only has four to six weeks, and hope a diplomatic solution presents itself, or D, none of the above. He can puzzle it out and try to come up with a workable solution that doesn't start a war or tacitly legitimize the sovereignty of the Confederate States of America. Godspeed, Lincoln.

Your time starts now. This test might be a little easier to handle if Lincoln's study partner, his Secretary of State, Henry Seward, wasn't cheating. See, still harboring presidential ambitions, Henry really wants to play puppet master with Lincoln. He also wants the southern states to say they're sorry and come back into the Union peacefully. In order to make both of those things happen, Henry opens talks behind Lincoln's back with a couple of Confederate commissioners. The Secretary of State, again without the president's knowledge, promises the three envoys that Fort Sumter will be evacuated within a few weeks. Then, Ballsy Henry leaks the stories about the supposed imminent evacuation to the press. Unaware of these covert conversations, Lincoln eliminates option A as a possible

solution. See, on March 28th, Winfield writes to Lincoln and recommends evacuating Fort Sumter, but his reasoning is entirely political. Quote, the evacuation would instantly soothe and give confidence to the eight remaining slave-holding states. Close quote. Lincoln's response to this message is basically, hey, old fuss and feathers, stay in your lane. It's the president's job to make politically expedient decisions, not the general's. Now understanding that there is no valid military reason to hand the fort over to the South, Lincoln, with the majority of his cabinet backing him, decides to resupply the fort. Okay, so you've checked option B. All right, Lincoln. I mean, the public has definitely been clamoring for some kind of action. As one newspaper put it,

quote, better almost anything than additional suspense. The people want something to be decided on to serve as a rallying point for the abundant but discouraged loyalty of the American heart, close quote. And Henry's been pressuring the president as well. Mostly he's trying to salvage his plan of being the behind the scenes wizard who brings the South back peacefully. The Secretary of State tells Lincoln, quote, whatever policy we adopt, it must be somebody's business to pursue and direct it incessantly, close quote. Of course, Henry wants that somebody to be him. Uh, no. Lincoln's to-the- point response simply states that no matter which action the administration chooses i must do it well that puts henry firmly in the passenger seat and to his credit henry

stays there as a loyal honest advisor from here on out okay with the politics and power plays out of the way let's send some soldiers down to Fort Sumter, right? Not quite. Lincoln is crossing option B out and actually choosing D, none of the above. See, in talking things out with his postmaster general, Montgomery Blair, Lincoln found the elusive win-win solution to the Fort Sumter problem. Using Montgomery's brother-in-law, former naval officer Gustavus Fox, Lincoln is going to send aid ships to Sumter. And he's going to do it in the open. No stealth ops this time. On April 6th, just days before the flower barrels at Fort Sumter run out, Lincoln informs South Carolina Governor Pickens that, quote, an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such an attempt be not resisted,

no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice except in case of an attack on the fort. Close quote. Brilliant. If South Carolina soldiers fire on a peaceful rescue operation, they are the aggressors. If they let the foodstuffs through, the status quo and maybe the hope of a peaceful settlement remain. Either way, the ball is in Jefferson Davis' court. What will the president of the Confederacy do? Production and sound design, Josh Beatty of J.B. Audio Design. Musical score, composed and performed by Greg Jackson and Diana Averill.

For a bibliography of all primary and secondary sources consulted in writing this episode, visit historythatdoesntsuck.com. Join me in two weeks, where I'd like to tell you a story. HTDS is supported by premium membership fans. You can join by clicking the link in the episode description. I'd like to tell you a story. Thank you. Jessica Poppett, Joe Dobis, John Frugaldugel, John Boovey, John Keller, John Oliveros, John Radlavich, John Schaefer, John Sheff, Jordan Corbett, Joshua Steiner, Justin M. Spriggs, Justin May, Kristen Pratt, Karen Bartholomew, Cassie Koneko, Kim R., Kyle Decker, Lawrence Neubauer, Linda Cunningham, Mark Ellis, Matthew Mitchell, Matthew Simmons, Melanie Jan, Nick Seconder, Nick Caffrel, Noah Hoff, Owen Sedlak, Paul Goeringer, Randy Guffrey, Reese Humphries-Wadsworth, Rick Brown, Sarah Trawick, Samuel Lagasa, Sharon Theisen, The French Revolution set Europe ablaze.

It was an age of enlightenment and progress, but also of tyranny and oppression. It was an age of glory and an age of tragedy. One man stood above it all. This was the age of glory and an age of tragedy. One man stood above it all. This was the age of Napoleon. I'm Everett Rummage, host of the Age of Napoleon podcast. Join me as I examine the life and times of one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters in modern history. Look for the Age of Napoleon wherever you find your podcasts.