|
Secession winter
junshan02 发表于 2012/7/10 11:34:00 |
Before Lincoln took office, seven states had declared their secession from the Union. They established a Southern government, the Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861. They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries with little resistance from outgoing President , whose term ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan said that the was proof that the South had no reason for secession, and that the Union "was intended to be perpetual", but that "the power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union" was not among the "enumerated powers granted to Congress". One quarter of the U.S. Army—the entire garrison in Texas—was surrendered in February 1861 to state forces by its commanding general, , who then joined the Confederacy.
As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, Republicans were able to pass bills for projects that had been blocked by Southern Senators before the war, including the , land grant colleges (the ), a , a transcontinental railroad (the ), the and the authorization of by the Legal Tender Act of 1862. The introduced the to help finance the war.
|
|
|
