alternatehistory.com

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the US in 1860, his coattails carried the Republican party to control of the House and Senate.

In December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. The remaining southern states slowly followed suit up to the day of Lincoln's inauguration. Eight southern states formed the CSA.

Had the South stayed in the Union, the Senate would have had 31 Republicans, 31 Democrats, 3 Unionists and 1 vacancy (there were equal numbers of slave and free soil states).

My question is: could the Southern Senators have used the filibuster to prevent President Lincoln's agenda from coming to a vote instead of leaving the Union altogether (and preventing the Civil War)?
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