An American history . ions. 3. Secession of South CaroHna, CHAPTER XXVII THE WARI. THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION 575. Buchanans Waverings. President Buchanan was ata loss to know how to deal with secession. He believed itwrong, but he thought the Constitution gave him no authorityto prevent it. Because of his unwillingness to play the partof a second Jackson and try to stop secession by force, hissecretary of state, Lewis Cass, resigned. At the same timethe secretary of war, John B. Floyd, took sides with thesecessionists. South CaroUna was demanding the surrender of Fort Sumter, in Charleston
An American history . ions. 3. Secession of South CaroHna, CHAPTER XXVII THE WARI. THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION 575. Buchanans Waverings. President Buchanan was ata loss to know how to deal with secession. He believed itwrong, but he thought the Constitution gave him no authorityto prevent it. Because of his unwillingness to play the partof a second Jackson and try to stop secession by force, hissecretary of state, Lewis Cass, resigned. At the same timethe secretary of war, John B. Floyd, took sides with thesecessionists. South CaroUna was demanding the surrender of Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor,then garrisoned byFederal troops, andthe secretary of warheld that this de-mand should begranted. The Pres-ident wavered. Hiscourse was finallydetermined verylargely through theinfluence gainedover him by a newmember of his cabi-net, Edwin M. Stanton. Under Stantons lead he refused toaccept the advice of Floyd, who thereupon resigned. Thence-forth the Northern faction in the cabinet controlled thePresident. 406. CHARLESTON HARBOR THE WAR 407 676. Schemes of Compromise. However, Buchanan wasnot alone in his shrinking from an appeal to force. As soonas it became plain that the secessionists were in earnest,desperate attempts were made to patch things up once moreby a compromise, and both the Senate and the Houseappointed committees for that purpose. Many compromiseschemes were debated. The most famous was the so-called Crittenden Compromise, submitted by Senator John of Kentucky, who proposed to extend the line ofthe Missouri Compromise westward to California, to havethe personal liberty laws declared unconstitutional, andin case of rescue of fugitive slaves after they had been ar-rested, to have Congress reimburse the owner. However, thetime for compromise had unfortunately gone by and eventuallyCrittendens plan, together with a number of others, was castaside. 577. Secession. While Congress debated the possibilityof a compromise, a merchant steamer, the Star
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