Look beneath the surface, however. Consider that, prior to the election of Lincoln, the Presidency had been held by a succession of Southerners and “doughfaces” (Northern men with Southern principles-a derogatory term coined by a Southerner, John Randolph). The South also controlled the federal judiciary and (for much of the prewar period) had significant influence in Congress. As we shall see, the Southern-dominated federal government asserted its authority on behalf of slavery, at the expense of the “states’ rights” of Northern states which opposed slavery.
