On Tues­day, March 5, Lin­coln began his tenure with a let­ter from William Seward, con­firm­ing his accep­tance of the sec­re­tary of state posi­tion. Seward reflect­ed on his res­ig­na­tion from Con­gress, feel­ing for­tu­nate to have avoid­ed any major fall­out. He acknowl­edged Lin­col­n’s ambi­tion to form a diverse cab­i­net, one that would face their shared tur­bu­lent polit­i­cal cli­mate togeth­er, despite many being his for­mer rivals for the Repub­li­can nom­i­na­tion. Seward expressed hes­i­ta­tion but felt com­pelled by duty towards a trou­bled nation.

Upon Lin­col­n’s arrival at the White House, the press­ing mat­ter at hand was a com­mu­ni­ca­tion from Major Ander­son at Fort Sumter, detail­ing the troop and sup­ply needs vital for the fort’s defense against poten­tial Con­fed­er­ate assault. Accom­pa­ny­ing this report was a note from out­go­ing War Sec­re­tary Joseph Holt. Lin­coln swift­ly for­ward­ed these doc­u­ments to Gen­er­al Win­field Scott. Scott, after review­ing the infor­ma­tion, con­clud­ed that sur­ren­der­ing Fort Sumter was the only viable option, mark­ing the hope­less­ness of its sit­u­a­tion amidst dwin­dling resources. He even draft­ed a direc­tive instruct­ing Ander­son to evac­u­ate peace­ful­ly, should he inform the Gov­er­nor of South Car­oli­na. Nev­er­the­less, this order was nev­er dis­patched.

On that same day, the new Repub­li­can-dom­i­nat­ed U.S. Sen­ate con­firmed Lin­col­n’s cab­i­net nom­i­nees, solid­i­fy­ing Seward’s posi­tion. In a move to estab­lish com­mu­ni­ca­tion and set a col­lab­o­ra­tive tone, Lin­coln reached out to Seward, request­ing an imme­di­ate meet­ing.

This chap­ter encap­su­lates Lin­col­n’s ini­tial for­ay into lead­er­ship, high­light­ing his attempts to uni­fy a frac­tured gov­ern­ment while con­fronting urgent mil­i­tary chal­lenges. It vivid­ly illus­trates the weight of respon­si­bil­i­ty on Lin­col­n’s shoul­ders and the imme­di­ate obsta­cles he faced from the out­set of his pres­i­den­cy. The dynam­ics of his cab­i­net, com­bined with the loom­ing threat of war, set the stage for a com­plex jour­ney ahead.