But why fight a war to stop them? Lincoln's reasons are obvious: He didn't want the protectionist U.S. to compete with a free trade Confederacy. But what reasons could anybody alive today possibly have? Certainly most people in the Union were in fact happy to see the south leave, especially the abolitionists who knew that the fugitive slave clause was now even less enforceable. It wasn't until Lincoln orchestrated Fort Sumter that he was able to change public opinion. So, again, who cares if the south secedes?Lincoln could have abandoned Sumter and saved us 4 years of Civil War.And not one of those soldiers was killed, and they were allowed to return home. Lincoln, of course, knew the fort would be fired on when he tried to resupply it, and that's exactly what he wanted..And one of those forts was filled full of American troops when the rebel forces started firing upon it.
The OP is full of BS, but let us not forget- Federal troops didn't fire first.
Not for lack of trying were no Federal troops killed. And yes- Lincoln knew attempting to resupply the forts would likely prompt a response- but not resupplying the forts would have been a response too.
Yes- Lincoln was smart enough to wait until the South fired on Union troops first.
The South could have not attempted to secede- and saved us 4 years of Civil War.
You claimed that Lincoln could have prevented the war- and I pointed out that the South could have done the same thing.
If you want to know Lincoln's reasons- read some of his biographies- he was pretty vocal about what his priorities and reasons were, and it had nothing to do with 'protectionist' policies.