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Abraham Lincoln: States
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By the time Lincoln took office, the Confederacy was an established fact, and no leaders of the insurrection proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. No compromise was found because a compromise was deemed virtually impossible. Buchanan might have allowed the southern states to secede, and some Republicans recommended that. However, conservative Democratic nationalists, such as Jeremiah S. Black, Joseph Holt, and Edwin M. Stanton had taken control of Buchanan's cabinet around January 1, 1861, and refused to accept secession. Lincoln and nearly every Republican leader adopted this position by March 1861: the Union could not be dismantled. However, as a strict follower of the constitution, Lincoln refused to take any action against the South unless the Unionists themselves were attacked first.
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In 1861, Lincoln's weaknesses were more evident than his strengths. Immediately after his inauguration he faced a crisis over Fort Sumter in the Charleston (S. C.) harbor, one of the few remaining U.S. forts in the seceded states still under federal control. Informed that the troops would have to be supplied or withdrawn, the inexperienced President anxiously explored solutions. Withdrawal would appear a cowardly backdown, but reinforcing the fort might precipitate hostilities. Lincoln painfully concluded that he would send supplies to Sumter and let the Confederates decide whether to fire on the flag of the Union.
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Many historians believe that Abraham Lincoln's leadership and wisdom ultimately saved the Union. Today, Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most beloved figures in American history. Towns, counties, highways, corporations and monuments bear his name. He is honored on the United States penny and five dollar bill.
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Lincoln's perception of the Thirteenth Amendment was central to his postwar objectives. Abolition would help him and Congress implement individuals' rights derived from the national Constitution, rights paralleling and not displacing those derived from state citizenship. Lincoln's view of federalism allowed for interstate diversity but required states' laws and customs to be race blind.
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While he may not have been gay, Lincoln did share a double bed with an attractive younger man, Joshua Fry Speed, for four years. Certain homosexual writers state outright that Lincoln was bisexual, but there is no actual evidence to this effect other than assumed innuendo and wishful thinking. And the men gave each other advice with regards to their women problems.
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As to means by which to achieve these goals, Lincoln was ... flexible. When Union armies advanced into the South, he appointed military governors for the states that were conquered. Most notable of these was the military governor of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson, who became Lincoln's running mate in 1864. In December 1863, Lincoln enunciated a comprehensive reconstruction program, pledging pardon and amnesty to Confederates prepared to swear loyalty to the Union and promising to turn back control of local governments to the civil authorities in the South when as few as 10% of the 1860 voting population participated in the elections. Governments operating under this 10% plan were set up in Louisiana and Arkansas and soon were petitioning for readmission to Congress.
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