...innocuously reasonable passage assuring the South of his pacific intentions: In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence; and there shall be none,...collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion The last two paragraphs are for history, but...

...domestic or foreign." At the beginning of that month, in the inaugural, I said: "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property...government, and to collect the duties and imposts." This had your distinct approval at the time; and, taken in connection with the order I immediately...

...beginning of that month," he reminded Seward, he announced in his Inaugural Address: "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property...government, and to collect the duties and imposts." This had your distinct approval at the time; and, taken in connection with the order I immediately...

...and the federal government had changed; and while he would not invade the seceded states, he promised to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places...Government and to collect the duties and imposts," as if secession had never taken place. If war came, Lincoln said, it would come only as a result of...

...of the Union that it will constitutionally defend, and maintain itself. In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence; and there shall be none,...collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion — no using offoree against, or among the people...

...no inclination to do so." But in the same speech, Lincoln made it very clear what would provoke war: "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy,...collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people...

...continue "unbroken." In Lincoln's vision, it was the president's duty to keep the government operating: "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy,...the Government and to collect the duties and imposts — The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as...

...formation of a Confederate government compounded their problems. The president's promise to use his power "to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places...belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties on imposts" forced Unionists to answer charges that his words were a declaration of war. Disavowing...