until its constitutional expiration in March, 1861, although the rival
and irreconcilable administration at Montgomery was busily engaged in
securing its exclusive authority in the seceding States.

Neither of the two incompatible administrations was anxious to strike
the first blow. Mr. Lincoln's administration began with the policy
outlined in his inaugural address, that of insisting on collection of
the duties on imports, and avoiding all other irritating measures. Mr.
Seward, Secretary of State, even talked of compensating for the loss of
the seceding States by admissions from Canada and elsewhere. The urgent
needs of Fort Sumter, however, soon forced an attempt to provision
it; and this brought on a general attack upon it by the Confederate
batteries around it. After a bombardment of two days, and a vigorous
defence by the fort, in which no one was killed on either side, the fort
surrendered, April 14, 1861. It was now impossible for the United States
to ignore the Confederate States any longer. President Lincoln issued
a call for volunteers, and a proclamation announcing a blockade of the
coast of the seceding States. A similar call on the other side and the
issue of letters of marque and reprisal against the commerce of the
United States were followed by an act of the Confederate Congress
formally recognizing the existence of war with the United States.
The two powers were thus locked in a struggle for life or death, the
Confederate States fighting for existence and recognition, the United
States for the maintenance of recognized boundaries and jurisdiction;
the Confederate States claiming to be at war with a foreign power, the
United States to be engaged in the suppression of individual resistance
to the laws. The event was to decide between the opposing claims; and it
was certain that the event must be the absolute extinction of either the
Confederate States or the United States within the area of secession.