No president worth his salt would not come back at such an aggression with force. Write it on your hand so that you won't forget.
That's what governments do. That's what governors do when the National Guard or the state police get shot at. Thinking that they wouldn't is crazy talk.
So now the question is why the original attack. Find out what was behind that and you may get closer to the reason for the war.
In any event you don't get to decide on your own what "the only question that matters is" -- nor does anybody else.
I suggest you read some of PeaRidge's postings on this matter. It very much looks as if the Union was launching an invasion at the exact same instant the Confederates started firing on Ft. Sumter.
It smells like they knew what the Union was about, and decided they weren't going to have any of it.
No president worth his salt would not come back at such an aggression with force. Write it on your hand so that you won't forget.
Again, read PeaRidge's postings of the messages and letters leading up to that event. It looks like Lincoln was engaged in a pre-emptive strike.
So now the question is why the original attack. Find out what was behind that and you may get closer to the reason for the war.
Again, read the messages and letters that PeaRidge has posted on the invasion of Ft. Sumter by the Union forces. It looks like they were going to attack in force when the Confederates started firing at Sumter, and I do not believe this was a coincidence.
It makes too much sense that word had been sent to the Confederates regarding the planned invasion by the Union ships and soldiers. They may have made a political blunder by firing first, but militarily it was exactly the right move.
In other words, Lincoln appears to have been the belligerent who cleverly covered up the fact of his belligerency.