The Charleston Mercury comments on Abraham Lincoln’s journey to Washington, D.C., for his presidential inauguration. The sentiments echo those of many white, slaveholding Baptists in the South:
You will have read LINCOLN’S vulgar, insidious, and unmistakable coercion speech, at Indianapolis, ere this reaches you. The wilful ignorance of the federative nature of our government displayed by this man, his filthy allusion to free love, and his method of advocating coercion, would be pitifully ludicrous did they not come from a creature who is a sober and determined fanatic, shortly to be armed with terrible power. If, after this speech, the Government of the Southern Confederacy chooses to wait on Providence, with the idle expectation that Forts Sumter and Pickens will surrender themselves spontaneously, and trust to see their walls fall down, like those of Jericho, at the mere blowing of a parcel of rams’ horns, than an excellent start will have been made towards ultimate submission and the universal contempt of the civilized world. Nations care nothing for sentiment. They adore courage. To obtain their respect you must inspire terror.
Providence will become a much-explored topic South and North during the war, including among Baptists.
Among many Baptists in the South, Providence during the first two years of the war will bring assurance of God’s favor and southern victory. Much less certainty in understanding Providence, however, will mark the final two years of the war.
Northward, Lincoln, the former Primitive Baptist, during the war will personally probe the mysteries of Providence from his presidential seat, rarely if ever reflecting a confident faith so common in Calvinist Primitive Baptist circles.
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