It has to be said that the bankers and factory owners behind the Republican Party are powerful.

By March 1, the Sun, Le Monde, The New York Times and other mainstream newspapers had quieted down and stopped mentioning the new president's private life, and the Washington Evening News even publicly confessed in a small place on the back page, saying that it was because the author had reported on it without verification due to hearsay, and in fact, Lincoln's father-in-law no longer had a stake in the railroad.

And the people on the street were excited for a few days, and gradually calmed down. By early March, the protesters against Lincoln had dispersed by the arrival of a military police in Washington and New York to warn and disperse a group of troublemakers.

But even that cast a shadow over Lincoln, who was about to be sworn in as president.

Lincoln had planned to arrive in Washington early, talk to a large number of political representatives in the days leading up to his inauguration, and elect his helpers to form a cabinet government. Fortunately, he had already thought about the cabinet members halfway through, otherwise it would be really difficult to come to someone to inquire about the selection of suitable candidates for such a fuss.

On March 1, a Republican-sponsored peace convention was held in the square in front of White House Hill. Republican William Henry Seward presided over the rally. Lincoln had already communicated with him to appoint him secretary of state in his new cabinet. So, Seward invited Lincoln to join in.

In order to convene this meeting, Seward had been preparing for a long time. Long before Lincoln took office, he used the power of a portion of the Republican Party in Congress to send invitations to the original federal states, asking each state to send representatives to the "peace conference" to be held in Washington on March 1.

But this in itself is a one-sided idea of the ambitious Seward. Not to mention the fact that the eight states that formed the Union in the south, which had broken away from the Union, resolutely refused to participate, and even the eight states in the upper south were somewhat divided, and in the end, perhaps with the idea of onlookers, reluctantly sent representatives to come. Within the Republican Party where Seward belongs, there are also many radical Republicans who oppose the convening of any peace convention and are skeptical of Seward's activities.

Therefore, even the southern states did not have much to look forward to this peace conference, after all, the southern states of the Union State did not send people to participate in it at all, and there was no way to talk about the objects of peace. Seward, however, believed that the Peace Congress had a role to play in co-opting the Upper Southern states, or at least so that they would not follow the Confederates from secession.

But the delegates of the Upper Southern states were energized when they saw Lincoln in person. In the name of peace, they demanded that Lincoln support slavery and not start a war over the slave issue. Lincoln replied vaguely: "I will faithfully carry out my duty as President of the United States to defend the Constitution of the United States." As for war, no one wants it, but no one is afraid! ”

The representatives of the Upper Southern States regretted that they had not received due assurances.

Three days later, Lincoln and outgoing President Buchanan attended the inauguration in a horse-drawn carriage.

Tens of thousands of people attended Lincoln's inauguration. Although the public opinion turmoil was in an uproar, it has to be said that the Republican Party's public relations ability is as strong as their electoral ability, although it has only been a few days, but today on the square of the inauguration ceremony, there are still crowds, and many people who do not know whether the Republicans have brought in or the factory owners have held up banners celebrating the inauguration of the new president and expecting the new president to lead the federation to give happiness to the people, rendering the atmosphere of the scene vividly and vividly.

Buchanan was relieved.

Seeing that there was no chaos at the service site, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. At this presidential handover ceremony, he exercised his last presidential power and ordered General Winfield Scott, the commander-in-chief of the federal army, to mobilize nearly 600 troops from Washington to garrison the White House around the White House to guard against the impact of public opinion and unfavorable remarks on Lincoln's inauguration some time ago.

A smooth handover is what he hopes for the most. Removing the weight from his shoulders relieved him.

The four-point proposal he proposed a month ago was rejected by the Republican-controlled Congress. Some radical Republicans objected to his proposal to demarcate the North and South along a dividing line, with slavery allowed in the southern part of the line. These radical Republicans demanded the complete abolition of slavery and dismissed Democratic President Buchanan to the death of humanitarianism, and in fact, they did not buy it, nor Seward, who was a Republican. Some Republicans in Congress generally believe that Buchanan is compromising with the South on the issue of limiting the spread of slavery, and they even suspect that the president is quietly supporting the South. They were bent on waiting for the new president, Lincoln, to deal with the North-South issue. As a result, Buchanan was completely disappointed and simply ignored political affairs, waiting to leave office and return to his hometown. Moreover, his attitude made Secretary of State Lewis Cass very unhappy, and he left his post before Lincoln arrived in Washington.

Therefore, he was even more disheartened.

However, when he saw Lincoln coming up, he still forced a smile and shook Lincoln's hand amicably, without even saying much about the scene, and the handover was over.

Douglas, a former defeated subordinate, also came to cheer. Although his health was already weakened by illness, he insisted on coming to the ceremony, calling on the Democrats to put aside their party prejudices, support Lincoln as the new president, and help him maintain federal unity with the Republican Party.

This touched Lincoln.

But the most important thing for him to become president now is that he put aside all his thoughts and began to make his acceptance speech: "The people of the southern states seem to fear that the Republican government will put their property, their peace, and their personal safety at risk. Such fears are unfounded. On the contrary, the evidence is there, and it is in all the speeches I have made, so you can read it as you like. ”

"I have said in one of my speeches that I have no intention of intervening, directly or indirectly, in the existing system of slavery, and that I do not feel that I have the right to do so under the law, nor do I want to. My position has not changed. The property, peace and security of the inhabitants of any part of the country will not be threatened in any way as a result of a change of Government. If I had said privately before that I wanted to abolish slavery, no, no, I hadn't said anything like that, I just stressed that the slave states could no longer be expanded. The existing areas where slavery has been practised will not change because I took office! ”

Perhaps sensing that he was speaking too softly, Lincoln strengthened his tone and hardened his tone when he said this: "Since Washington, the first president of the United States of America, was sworn in 72 years ago, 15 presidents have led the country through ups and downs. I firmly oppose the current situation in which the eight southern states want to secede from the Union and form new states. I always believed that the Union was not divided, yes, according to the Constitution and the law, there was no division! I will carry out the commands given to me by the Constitution to ensure that federal laws are observed by all states, and that this can be done without bloodshed and violence unless it is imposed on the federal government. With regard to the Southern states, I am to possess, control, and take possession of all property and territories belonging to the federal government, and to collect taxes, in accordance with the powers conferred on me by the constitution, for which the federal government will take the necessary means, even by force. However, the Government will not invade any place or use violence against anyone, except by means necessary to achieve the above ends. ”

Naturally, he said these words to the eight slave-holding states in the upper south, and his intention was only to comfort these eight states not to betray the Union. Lincoln then said to the eight southern slave-holding states that had seceded: "As for the newly established so-called Confederate States, I, the President of the Commonwealth of America, solemnly inform you: The decision on the Civil War is in your hands, in the hands of your compatriots who are dissatisfied with the status quo, and not in the hands of me and the federal government. The federal government will not attack you. If you don't take the initiative, there will be no conflict. We are not enemies, we are friends, we always have been. We cannot be enemies, and the bonds of love between us, though they may be hurt emotionally, will never be severed. ”

With that, Lincoln put his hand on the Bible and was sworn in as the new president of the United States under the reading of the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The vice president is Hannibal Hamlin, a native of the East and a former Democrat, who was able to balance Lincoln and make the Democrats grudgingly accept.

Lincoln's cabinet appointees came from various regional factions of the Republican Party, and he wanted to mobilize the entire Republican Party: William Henry Seward as Secretary of State; Samon Chase served as Secretary of the Treasury; Caleb Smith as Secretary of the Interior; Simon Cameron as Secretary of War; Edward Bates as Attorney General; Gideon Wells as Secretary of the Navy; Montgomery Blair served as Minister of Posts.

Smoothly inaugurated, Lincoln also let out a long breath. In fact, his palms were sweaty, but thankfully, the fears of Democratic-inciting riots did not materialize.

However, when Lincoln stepped into the White House with one foot, a large number of job seekers suddenly crowded through the crowd, but they were soon stopped by soldiers who shouted at Lincoln: "Mr. President, give us a job, we need bread!" ”

Lincoln didn't react for a moment. A woman with an ugly face also rushed over, squeezed past the intercepting soldiers, and said: "You Washington tax collector has eaten at my hotel for a week without paying any money, and it just so happens that you are the president today, and I came to ask you for money for the meal." ”

Secretary John Hay and a group of soldiers hurriedly stepped forward to drag the woman and demanded that she leave. Unexpectedly, John Hay was too weak, and he fell to the ground when he was taken by the woman. Suddenly, several job seekers surrounded John Hay and looked at Lincoln with blank eyes, as if the little secretary was injured and they could replace him, which made Lincoln both cry and laugh and be very depressed: Are there so many unemployed people in the Union? No wonder there were once southern slave owners who claimed that their southern slaves were far better off than the unemployed workers in the north.

Lincoln suddenly felt more pressured on him. Hurriedly getting rid of these onlookers and entering the White House, Lincoln did not have the slightest excitement to enter the White House, but more tired and hesitant.

Despite the ambiguity of his inaugural speech, he feared that the southern states would think it was his declaration of war. In fact, he had actually violated his campaign slogan by emphasizing that he would not change the current slavery system as a gesture of goodwill to the South. But he also wanted to deter the upper southern states, so he added the words of possession, control, possession, and collection of all property and territories belonging to the federal government.

The first tricky thing to do when entering the White House was how to resolve the crisis at Fort Sumter.

Fort Sumter had been surrounded by Commodore Pierre Beauret, the Confederate gunboats had blockaded the port of Charleston, the Federal War Department had sent several civilian ships to transport supplies from the waterway port into Fort Sumter, but without success, and even a merchant ship chartered the "Western Star" was damaged by a Confederate gunboat.

As early as three days ago, the commander of the defenders of Fort Sumter, Major Anderson, sent an urgent letter asking for surrender, and Anderson reluctantly revealed that he and his more than 60 soldiers were already facing a shortage of military rations, and even if they were repeatedly saved, they would starve to death in a few weeks, and he would not let his men and himself starve to death, and if he did not support, he would be forced to surrender before this and give up defending Fort Sumter.

Lincoln decided to convene his first cabinet meeting since entering the White House to discuss how to deal with the troubles at Fort Sumter.