Why did Abraham Lincoln refuse to give fort Sumter to the Confederates?

Answer 1

Lincoln didn't want to fire the first shots of the war. He figured in doing so, he would upset the boarder states: Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky, and cause them to secede from the union. If that is what you were referring to.

Answer 2

After Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, and after the secession of South Carolina, Lincoln's presidency would not begin until March of 1861. During that period six other Southern states would secede. Federal property such as post offices were peaceably occupied by Confederate forces. Democratic President Buchanan did little to stop these incursions. Perhaps his best "deed" was to not recognize the Confederacy as the South had asked of him. With the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter in the Charleston harbor in April of 1861, Lincoln was already sworn in as the US president. This was violence against the Union that had not occurred earlier. Lincoln's decision was painful but inevitable. The Northern public may have been not pleased prior to the Fort Sumter battle, but now action was demanded. Lincoln wanted to reunite the Union. He believed that was the most important thing. Slavery was not an issue on the table at the time. His call for only 75,000 volunteers for a 3 month term was evidence that he believed the South would come to its senses.

Answer 3

President Lincoln was unwilling to give up Fort Sumter in the 1860's because it represented a big loss in the Civil War.

Answer 4

Because Congress did not recognise the Confederacy, so he was still treating South Carolina as part of the United States.