So, ...you believe that South seceded because the North was about to outlaw slavery?
No, the reason is the same one that bases Barack Obama's foreign policy: a misunderstanding of geopolitical realities.
1. You see, the South believed that they ruled the world.
Really. Ruled!
Whether or not they imagined that they could defeat the North militarily, they fervently believed that they could oblige....compel... the greatest military power in the world to back them.
2. "TheUnion blockadein theAmerican Civil War was a naval tactic by the Northern government to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the closure of 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of Atlantic and Gulf coastline, ..."
Union blockade - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
a. "In January, 1861, De Bow’s Reviewcontained an article declaring that “the first demonstration of blockade of the Southern ports would be swept away by the English fleets of observation hovering on the Southern coasts,..."
Great Britain and the American Civil War eBook
3. Why? Certainly, the English disgust with the practice of slavery wouldn't allow them to run....or sail....to the Confederacy's side?
So what made the Southerners believe that the had Britain in their pocket?
a. "Like all educated Southerners in the summer of 1861, [they] hoped one morning to hear the news that Great Britain had recognized the independence of the Confederate States. In May a delegation of rebel commissioners, headed by William Lowndes Yancey, had arrived in London for an audience with the British foreign secretary, Lord John Russell. The rebels took great heart from what was said. Russell had discussed the constitutional rights of secession, and Yancey had pledged the South's desire for free trade, reminding the British minister of the importance to his people of Southern cotton. Russell's principal concern, however, was the issue of the African slave trade. He had heard that the Confederate government was keen to restore this abomination. Was this true? Yancey reassured Russell that the South "had prohibited the slave-trade, and did not mean to revive it."
Lord Russell was in a tricky position, as were all the members of the British government. Though they opposed slavery, three wasn't a true democrat among them, not in the mold of Abraham Lincoln [who] could never have risen to become a British minister; to be that, one had to have been born into privilege, with wealth and property the only prerequisites. The members of the British government believed in "aristocratic government," and anyone who challenged them was crushed mercilessly......therefore, ministers such as Lord Russell and the prime minister, seventy-seven-year-old Lord Palmerston, had more in common with the Confederate government than they did with the Federal. Lincoln's administration believed in equal rights and espoused the cause of the workingman, themes that were anathema to the British government."
"Double Death: The True Story of Pryce Lewis, the Civil War's Most Daring Spy,"byGavin Mortimer, p.70-71
What was the hold that the Confederacy mistakenly believed would bring Britain to their cause?
The answer is in the section above.
No, the reason is the same one that bases Barack Obama's foreign policy: a misunderstanding of geopolitical realities.
1. You see, the South believed that they ruled the world.
Really. Ruled!
Whether or not they imagined that they could defeat the North militarily, they fervently believed that they could oblige....compel... the greatest military power in the world to back them.
2. "TheUnion blockadein theAmerican Civil War was a naval tactic by the Northern government to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the closure of 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of Atlantic and Gulf coastline, ..."
Union blockade - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
a. "In January, 1861, De Bow’s Reviewcontained an article declaring that “the first demonstration of blockade of the Southern ports would be swept away by the English fleets of observation hovering on the Southern coasts,..."
Great Britain and the American Civil War eBook
3. Why? Certainly, the English disgust with the practice of slavery wouldn't allow them to run....or sail....to the Confederacy's side?
So what made the Southerners believe that the had Britain in their pocket?
a. "Like all educated Southerners in the summer of 1861, [they] hoped one morning to hear the news that Great Britain had recognized the independence of the Confederate States. In May a delegation of rebel commissioners, headed by William Lowndes Yancey, had arrived in London for an audience with the British foreign secretary, Lord John Russell. The rebels took great heart from what was said. Russell had discussed the constitutional rights of secession, and Yancey had pledged the South's desire for free trade, reminding the British minister of the importance to his people of Southern cotton. Russell's principal concern, however, was the issue of the African slave trade. He had heard that the Confederate government was keen to restore this abomination. Was this true? Yancey reassured Russell that the South "had prohibited the slave-trade, and did not mean to revive it."
Lord Russell was in a tricky position, as were all the members of the British government. Though they opposed slavery, three wasn't a true democrat among them, not in the mold of Abraham Lincoln [who] could never have risen to become a British minister; to be that, one had to have been born into privilege, with wealth and property the only prerequisites. The members of the British government believed in "aristocratic government," and anyone who challenged them was crushed mercilessly......therefore, ministers such as Lord Russell and the prime minister, seventy-seven-year-old Lord Palmerston, had more in common with the Confederate government than they did with the Federal. Lincoln's administration believed in equal rights and espoused the cause of the workingman, themes that were anathema to the British government."
"Double Death: The True Story of Pryce Lewis, the Civil War's Most Daring Spy,"byGavin Mortimer, p.70-71
What was the hold that the Confederacy mistakenly believed would bring Britain to their cause?
The answer is in the section above.
