Buchanan’s message to Congress also angered members of his own cabinet. On December 8, 1860, Howell Cobb, the secretary of the treasury, a native of Georgia, told Buchanan he could no longer work for him.
A week later, Buchanan’s Secretary of State, Lewis Cass, a native of Michigan, also resigned, but for a very different reason. Cass felt that Buchanan was not doing enough to prevent the secession of southern states.