It is a compliment to the innate force of
Jeremiah S. Black, the Attorney-General, that Buchanan advanced
him to the post of Secretary of State and allowed him to name as
his successor in the Attorney-Generalship Edwin M. Stanton. Both
were tried Democrats of the old style, "let-'em-alone" sort; and
both had supported the President in his Kansas policy. But each,
like every other member of his party, was being forced by
circumstances to make his choice among the three inevitable
courses, and each chose the Northern side. At once the question
of the moment was whether the new Secretary of State and his
powerful henchmen would hypnotize the President.
For a couple of weeks the issue hung in the balance. Then there
appeared at Washington commissioners from South Carolina
"empowered to treat...for the delivery of forts...and other real
estate" held by the Federal Government within their State. On
the day following their arrival, Buchanan was informed by
telegraph that Anderson had dismantled Fort Moultrie on the north
side of the harbor, had spiked its guns, and had removed its
garrison to the island fortress, Sumter, which was supposed to be
far more defensible. At Charleston his action was interpreted as
preparation for war; and all South Carolinians saw in it a
violation of a pledge which they believed the President had given
their congressmen, three weeks previous, in that talk which had
not been written down.
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