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Remembering how the vital French alliance secured America's victory in the Revolution, a cornerstone of the United States government's foreign policy throughout the Civil War was to keep foreign countries, especially Britain and France, from giving diplomatic recognition or aid to the Confederate States of America.
When Union troops boarded the British vessel Trent and removed Confederate agents John Slidell and Virginian James M. Mason, the incident brought Britain and the Union to the brink of war. U.S. opinion was hostile to truckling to British power, but on the principle of "one war at a time," the U.S. gave way, released the prisoners, and made a suitable apology. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, effectively ended the possibility of European intervention because it introduced abolition as a Union war goal and cast the C.S.A. as a defender of slavery.
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James Murray Mason (1798–1871)
James Murray Mason's carte de visite. "London, 1865" on reverse.
(Virginia Historical Society) |
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In Vinculis or the Prisoner of War by a Virginia Confederate by Anthony M. Keiley (1835–1905)
In Vinculis or the Prisoner of War by a Virginia Confederate (New York, 1866).
Anthony Keiley's book about his experiences as a prisoner.
(Virginia Historical Society) |
Next: An American Empire, 1865–1916
Previous: The Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny, 1823–48
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