From Randy Hughes
Creston
A recent letter suggested that President Lincoln initiated “an illegal war.” I doubt that the reference was to the conflict with the tribes in Minnesota. I can only conclude that the author was writing about the U.S. Civil War.
There is a different conclusion that can be drawn when a certain fact is considered. The war was initiated by an attack on a U.S. military installation, Fort Sumter in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina. It is the duty of any President to maintain order and to protect the property of the United States. Just as was done when an attack by anti-slavery rebels took place at Harper’s Ferry, U.S. troops were called upon to quell the rebellion.
Prior to the attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln had made it clear that neither he nor Congress had the power to abolish slavery in any state in which it existed.
He also made it clear that he had not the inclination to do so.
It is also interesting to note that despite the repeated intervention by the U.S. military to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act in states that did not allow slavery, no “free” state passed an ordinance of secession.
Also, there was no mass uprising when the U.S. forces, under the command of Robert E. Lee subdued the previously mentioned attack at Harper’s Ferry.
The U.S. Civil War was precipitated when a portion of the population of some of the slave holding states took up arms against the government of the United States. That is an illegal act.