The one who starts the war is not the one who fires the first shot, but the one who causes the first shot to be fired. 

In order to coalesce the forces in the North, Lincoln had to stage an incident to inflame the populace, which he did. The firing on Sumter was by his own admission a setup for just such action. Lincoln was aware that provisioning Sumter could provoke a war.

The Providence Daily Post said “For three weeks the administration newspapers have been assuring us that Ft. Sumter would be abandoned”, but “Mr. Lincoln saw an opportunity to inaugurate civil war without appearing in the character of an aggressor”. 

The Jersey City American Standard wrote concerning Lincoln’s behavior, “there is a madness and ruthlessness which is astounding… this unarmed vessel… is a mere decoy to draw the first fire from the people of the South, which act, by the predetermination of the government, is to be the pretext for letting loose the horrors of war.” 

Many Northern States had laws called "Black Codes" forbidding free blacks from moving into their states. These included Rhode Island, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana,Wisconsin and Oregon.

" No free Negro, or Mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this state, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; an the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws, for the removal, by public officers, of all such Negroes, and Mulattos, and for their effectual exclusion from the state, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state, or employ, or harbor them.”
Oregon Constitution 1833 - Article I Section 35 (The free Negro clause was repealed, November 3, 1926.)

As an Illinois representative Lincoln introduced a bill to have all blacks removed from the state. 

Antebellum New Orleans was the largest most prosperous community of people of color; many were educated, middle class and property owners. 

Antebellum Washington DC was home to the largest slave market on the continent…Per PBS

Photo: A late 18th century New Orleans collage depicting a Free woman of color. Much better dressed than most poor women of any race.

Capt. Daniel Oakley 2nd Mass.  Voluntary Infantry…"It was sad to see the wanton destruction of property...there was no restraint."  He goes on, "No houses escaped robbery, no woman escaped insult, no building escaped the firebrand, except by some strange interposition. War may license an army to subsist on the enemy, but civilized warfare stops at live stock, forage and provisions.. It does not enter the houses of the sick and helpless and rob women of their finger rings and carry of their clothing."

General Joshua Chamberlain condemned the actions of sherman's troops and General Don Carlos Buell resigned because he was helpless to stop the outrages...

London Times. 7 November 1861: "The contest is really for empire on the side of the North and for Independence on that of the South"

Winning by less than 40% of the popular vote, almost 61% of the people voted for someone else. 

Lincoln was never president of the Southern States; He was not even on the ballot in 10 of the 11 states that would eventually secede. When he took office the country was already divided into two separate countries, it was not reunited until after his death. 

Our one and only president was Jefferson Davis. As we are faced with another presidential election, ponder the words of our Commander in Chief, are they not relevant? 

“The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert it’s self, though it may be at another time and in another form.” President Jefferson Davis, Confederate States of America…

Defiant unreconstructed Southern women...(I happen to know this spirit is still alive in some of our beloved Southern women today) THANK GOD!

One of the major problems that confronted by Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler on his occupation of New Orleans in April of 1862, was the abuse his soldiers endured from patriotic Confederate women. Bitterly resentful of the Union occupation, whenever any of Butler's men were present they would contemptuously gather in their skirts, cross streets, flee rooms, cast hateful glances, or make derisive comments. Some sang spirited renditions of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" and other Confederate songs, or spat on soldiers' uniforms, while teaching their children to do the same. One woman emptied a chamber pot on Capt. David C. Farragut from her window shortly after the mayor surrendered the city to him.

The women hoped their actions would force a retaliatory incident serious enough to incite paroled Confederates to revolt against the occupation troops. Butler dealt with the problem on May 15 by issuing General Orders No. 28, carefully worded to be self-enforcing:

"As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation."

The "Woman's Order" provoked criticism throughout the Confederacy and in Europe from people who considered his proclamation an unpardonable affront to womanhood. 

Jefferson Davis on hearing of Butler’s General Order against the women of New Orleans said:

“Butler is branded a felon, an outlaw, an enemy of Mankind, and so ordered that in the event of his capture, the officer in command of the capturing force do cause him to be immediately executed by hanging.”