Competing claims about Buchanan's Fort Sumter pledge

South Carolina's commissioners insist that Buchanan promised to preserve the status quo in Charleston Harbor and that Anderson's move to Fort Sumter violated both the pledge and the president's personal honor. They demand an order withdrawing the garrison. Buchanan believes any earlier understanding ended when South Carolina seceded and seized federal forts and property. He refuses to order Anderson out, so the meeting closes without agreement. Catton presents a political and constitutional dispute in which each side believes the other broke the terms for avoiding violence.