Letter from South Carolina Congressmen to President Buchanan

December 9, 1860

This remarkable document was presented to President Buchanan by five of the six sitting Congressmen for the state (the sixth man, Congressman John D. Ashmore, was unavailable).  It amounts to a proposed truce between (as-yet-not-seceded) South Carolina and the Federal government over the Federal forts in Charleston Harbor, provided that the Federal government does not reinforce the (scant) garrisons in those forts.

President James Buchanan

WASHINGTON, December 9, 1860. His Excellency JAMES BUCHANAN, President of the United States: In compliance with our statement to you yesterday, we now express to you our strong convictions that neither the constituted authorities, nor any body of the people of the State of South Carolina, will either attack or molest the United States forts in the harbor of Charleston, previously to the action of the Convention, and we hope and believe not until an offer has been made, through an accredited representative, to negotiate for an amicable arrangement of all matters between the State and the Federal Government, provided that no reinforcements shall be sent into those forts, and their military status shall remain as at present.   JOHN McQUEEN. WM. PORCHER MILES. M. L. BONHAM. W. W. BOYCE. LAWRENCE M. KEITT.