The period between November 1860 and March 1861—the "Secession Winter"—was perhaps the most agonizing experience of Lincoln’s life. As South Carolina and then others formally withdrew from the United States, Lincoln maintained a strategic, often misunderstood, silence from his home in Springfield. He refused to compromise on the central pillar of his platform: the prohibition of slavery's expansion. In the South, he was portrayed as a radical, a tyrant who would trample their way of life. In the North, he was a man under immense pressure to either negotiate or strike back. During these months, he aged visibly. The physical toll of the crisis was etched into the lines of his face. He watched, helpless, as the maps in his office grew smaller, the federal government losing authority over vast swathes of its territory, all while he prepared for a presidency that might well be the final one of the United States.