USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75, 000 volunteers. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union.

Detailed explanation-2: -The fall of Fort Sumter brought the secession crisis to the breaking point. On April 15, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75, 000 volunteers to serve in the U.S. Army for a period of ninety days. In doing so, Lincoln answered the South’s challenge to civil war.

Detailed explanation-3: -Lincoln’s decision to fight rather than to let the Southern states secede was not based on his feelings towards slavery. Rather, he felt it was his sacred duty as President of the United States to preserve the Union at all costs.

Detailed explanation-4: -Abraham Lincoln wanted to be lenient to the South and make it easy for southern states to rejoin the Union. He said that any southerner who took an oath to the Union would be given a pardon. He also said that if 10% of the voters in a state supported the Union, then a state could be readmitted.