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[[Image:CMercury.GIF|thumb|150px|right|The Charleston ''Mercury'' newspaper printed this special broadside edition on December 20, 1860, just as news reached the editors that South Carolina had withdrawn from the Union.]]

[[Image:CMercury.GIF|thumb|150px|right|The Charleston ''Mercury'' newspaper printed this special broadside edition on December 20, 1860, just as news reached the editors that South Carolina had withdrawn from the Union.]]

[[image:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.]]

[[image:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.]]

By December 1860, both houses of Congress were working on proposals for compromises that would postpone the split they knew was coming.  [[John J. Crittenden]] of the Senate committee introduced [[Crittenden Compromise|a proposal]] that would restore the Missouri Compromise by extending the northern boundary line across the continent to the Pacific, as well as preventing Congress or a Constitutional amendment from ever abolishing slavery. The [[Crittenden Compromise]], as well as the others, came down to a vote, but events would prove it was too late.  Most of President Buchanan's cabinet, long angered at him (and his predecessor, Democrat Franklin Pierce) for not standing up to Southern demands which were tearing the country apart, walked out in protest; the latest outrage occurred when a delegation from South Carolina arrived at the White House and demanded the removal of Federal troops from the state (Buchanan rejects it). And President-elect Lincoln, although trying to be careful regarding the slavery issue, is insistent that slavery not be expanded into the territories. (Bowman, pg. 41)

Before seceding, the Confederate States issued declarations of secession.<ref>http://www.civil-war.net/pages/ordinances_secession.asp</ref> By December 1860, both houses of Congress were working on proposals for compromises that would postpone the split they knew was coming.  [[John J. Crittenden]] of the Senate committee introduced [[Crittenden Compromise|a proposal]] that would restore the Missouri Compromise by extending the northern boundary line across the continent to the Pacific, as well as preventing Congress or a Constitutional amendment from ever abolishing slavery. The [[Crittenden Compromise]], as well as the others, came down to a vote, but events would prove it was too late.  Most of President Buchanan's cabinet, long angered at him (and his predecessor, Democrat Franklin Pierce) for not standing up to Southern demands which were tearing the country apart, walked out in protest; the latest outrage occurred when a delegation from South Carolina arrived at the White House and demanded the removal of Federal troops from the state (Buchanan rejects it). And President-elect Lincoln, although trying to be careful regarding the slavery issue, is insistent that slavery not be expanded into the territories. (Bowman, pg. 41)

On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina government votes to secede from the Union.  Within days they begin war preparations, and seize Federal property.  By the end of the month Major Robert Anderson spiked the cannon and removed the force stationed at Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor; nearby Fort Sumter is considered more defensible, and he places the force there.  Aware of Anderson's condition, President Buchanan orders reinforcements sent, and he readied USS ''Brooklyn'' for that purpose in Norfolk; she would be replaced days later by General [[Winfield Scott]]'s preference for a non-Naval supply ship, ''Star of the West''.

On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina government votes to secede from the Union.  Within days they begin war preparations, and seize Federal property.  By the end of the month Major Robert Anderson spiked the cannon and removed the force stationed at Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor; nearby Fort Sumter is considered more defensible, and he places the force there.  Aware of Anderson's condition, President Buchanan orders reinforcements sent, and he readied USS ''Brooklyn'' for that purpose in Norfolk; she would be replaced days later by General [[Winfield Scott]]'s preference for a non-Naval supply ship, ''Star of the West''.