And the rest of the story...two serious mistakes were made. The south didn't believe that Lincoln could be elected, and the North didn't believe that the South would leave the union if he did get elected. Both were very wrong.
Lincoln couldn't deal directly with J. Davis, he was a rebel, leading an unlawful rebellion.

Another major mistake on the part of the South, when the war broke out the South had ONE iron foundry,Tredegar Iron works and that was in Richmond, just a few miles from the Union line.