<P> On December 18, 1860, the Crittenden Compromise was proposed to re-establish the Missouri Compromise line by constitutionally banning slavery in territories to the north of the line while guaranteeing it to the south . The adoption of this compromise likely would have prevented the secession of every southern state apart from South Carolina, but Lincoln and the Republicans rejected it . It was then proposed to hold a national referendum on the compromise . The Republicans again rejected the idea, although a majority of both Northerners and Southerners would have voted in favor of it . A pre-war February Peace Conference of 1861 met in Washington, proposing a solution similar to that of the Crittenden compromise, it was rejected by Congress . The Republicans proposed an alternative compromise to not interfere with slavery where it existed but the South regarded it as insufficient . Nonetheless, the remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy following a two - to - one no - vote in Virginia's First Secessionist Convention on April 4, 1861 . </P> <P> On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President . In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, that it was a binding contract, and called any secession "legally void". He had no intent to invade Southern states, nor did he intend to end slavery where it existed, but said that he would use force to maintain possession of Federal property . The government would make no move to recover post offices, and if resisted, mail delivery would end at state lines . Where popular conditions did not allow peaceful enforcement of Federal law, U.S. Marshals and Judges would be withdrawn . No mention was made of bullion lost from U.S. mints in Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina . In Lincoln's inaugural address, he stated that it would be U.S. policy to only collect import duties at its ports; there could be no serious injury to the South to justify armed revolution during his administration . His speech closed with a plea for restoration of the bonds of union, famously calling on "the mystic chords of memory" binding the two regions . </P> <P> The South sent delegations to Washington and offered to pay for the federal properties and enter into a peace treaty with the United States . Lincoln rejected any negotiations with Confederate agents because he claimed the Confederacy was not a legitimate government, and that making any treaty with it would be tantamount to recognition of it as a sovereign government . Secretary of State William Seward who at that time saw himself as the real governor or "prime minister" behind the throne of the inexperienced Lincoln, engaged in unauthorized and indirect negotiations that failed . President Lincoln was determined to hold all remaining Union - occupied forts in the Confederacy, Fort Monroe in Virginia, in Florida, Fort Pickens, Fort Jefferson, and Fort Taylor, and in the cockpit of secession, Charleston, South Carolina's Fort Sumter . </P> <P> Fort Sumter was located in the middle of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, where the U.S. fort's garrison had withdrawn to avoid incidents with local militias in the streets of the city . Unlike Buchanan, who allowed commanders to relinquish possession to avoid bloodshed, Lincoln required Maj . Anderson to hold on until fired upon . Jefferson Davis ordered the surrender of the fort . Anderson gave a conditional reply that the Confederate government rejected, and Davis ordered P.G.T. Beauregard to attack the fort before a relief expedition could arrive . Troops under Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12--13, forcing its capitulation . </P>

Who were the leaders of the north during the civil war