...act and bad policy. Carefully proclaiming his determination to preserve the Union, Lincoln pledged to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and . . . collect the duties and imposts." Beyond "what may be necessary for these objects," he would not...

...unequivocally favoring an effort to hold Sumter.49 Lincoln, who had promised in his Inaugural Address "to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government," resisted the idea that Sumter be abandoned. He indicated as much soon after his inauguration, when...

...institution of slavery where it exists." He announced that he would use "the power confided to me... to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government." But he assured Southerners that "there would be no invasion, no using offeree against or among the...

...revenues. To Lincoln, Southern slavery was perfectly tolerable; free trade was not. "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging to the government," Lincoln announced, "and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these...

...threat to the states of the South that he, as President of the United States, was constitutionally bound to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government " With that said, the new administration had drawn its line in the sand. The Opening Salvo: March-April...

...view, his key points were these: (1) no state could lawfully secede; and (2) "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government." Lincoln had actually wanted to use sharper terms here but had been persuaded to soften them a bit....

...March 4, 1861, inaugural address. But Lincoln also declared he would use the "power confided in [him] to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government. " This included Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, which, surrounded by thousands...

...Union be faithfully executed in all the States." He goes on to say, "that the power confided to him will be used to hold, occupy and possess the Property...Government, and to collect the Duties and Imposts." He deprecates bloodshed, but he does not declare, as Mr. Buchanan did, that the Government has absolutely...

...address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak? "There needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority — ' Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its...

...promised not to use force and not to impose new federal appointees on the South. Thus, "[T]here needs to be no bloodshed or violence; and there shall be none,...unless it be forced upon the national authority." It was the concluding portion of the speech, however, that became most famous. "I am loth to close,"...