AFP NOTES 2/13
midterm exam: march 5, 3-430PM
the foreign policy of civil war 1861-1865
A) DEFINING THE WAR
president abraham lincoln
key players in the war were lincoln and seward
-lincoln was determined to maintain the civil war as just that- the 'civil war'
-this was in part to keep other nations OUT of america or from taking sides
-never once referred to the CSA as confederates, but as 'rebels'
-threatened war against anybody who recognizes the confederacy as an independent nation
-recognition as an independent state was the key aspect of CSA foreign policy
-as early as feb 1861, Jefferson Davis (president of the CSA) tried to get recognition from outside
-they did this for a few reasons
-1) try to finesse slavery (so if slavery became kind of accepted around the world, favor would shift to their side)
-2) recognition would end war (if another nation intervened on their behalf, the north would just be outmatched)
-3) reliance of global economy on cotton (hopefully they could sway people economically)
-there was an uprising of popular support for the CSA in england, largely due to internal british politics
-limited government favored over big government
-decentralization favored over centralization
-self-government favored over empire
-low tariffs preferred over protectionism
-hedge against US expansion
-all of these factors came together to make the brits more likely to support the CSA, but they didnt really do anything just now

Lincoln decided to impose a blockade (april 16)
-did this without consulting congress, because he called the south an 'insurrection'
-called any confederate actions on the high seas 'piracy'
-the british, french recognized the CSA as belligerents
-would allow CSA ships into ports, refuel, etc
-allowed to do non-war actions
-US was PISSED OFF at this
-Charles Francis Adams was sent over to bitch out the brits
-said that if the brits recognized the CSA as an actual state, then the US would be forced to go to war
-it worked

Congress then retroactively empowered the president's blockade
-went one further
-empowered the President to CLOSE ports in the CSA
-allows US to seize any british or any other ships in CSA ports
-british got PISSED OFF at this, said that the US wasn't actually in control of the ports, threatened lincoln
-lincoln took this all into consideration, decided NOT to use congressional authorization to close southern ports

SoS william seward
seward was known to be aggressive in terms of asserting the monroe doctrine
-he was seen as a prime mover behind the civil war
prime minister palmerston

foreign minister russell

B) THE BACKLASH TO EXCEPTIONALISM: THE DECLARATION OF PARIS
commerce raiders
these were essentially privateers
-prior to the declaration of paris, governments could issue 'letters of marque' which allowed them to carry out naval action against enemy ships
-britain was really happy about this, agreed, along with lots of europe
-US refused to sign this (this happened before the war)
-came back to haunt the US, Jefferson Davis employed shitloads of privateers to attack US ships
-when the war starts, US decides it wants to jump on board
british did NOT accept US's claim that the rest of the signatories were forced to help police the seas and take out privateers
-britain still doesn't believe that the CSA are 'insurgents', but possibly something else
-Britain says that they will NOT help enforce the agreement
-US says that this destroys the reciprocity of the treaty, so they decided NOT to enter the declaration of paris
CSA starts building commerce raiders and privateers in english ports to attack US shipping
-britain then passed the 'Foreign Enlistment Act' which forbade the building of warships on british soil or seaports
-CSA gets around this by commissioning regular ships, commissioning big guns, then assembling them somewhere else
because of the blockade, blockade runners (really really fast ships) started getting commissioned to ship cotton out
-in response, lincoln decided to state that the US would start sending out their own privateers to attack the blockade runners
alabama claims
after the war, US claims reparations against the british for building CSA ships
-these claims were called the 'alabama claims'
-US demanded either $2 billion or Canada
-eventually got watered down to $15.5 million in reparations
-this is an incredible precedent of international arbitration, good thing!
-codified some international law (of sorts)

C) THE TRENT AFFAIR
john slidell
sent to europe by CSA after Jefferson Davis wanted to recall his european ambassadors
supposed to go to france
never got to europe
james mason
same situation, supposed to go to england
also never got to europe

both were captured by an American naval captain charles wilkes
charles wilkes
halted the CSA/British blockade runners
-retook the two ambassadors and their staffs

this really turned the tables on britain
-british were stopping american ships and impressing any british citizens, and even slaves, into british service
-'right of search'
-Wilkes turned the tables, retook 'american citizens'
-lincoln said that if the british demanded the ambassadors back, they would return them, but force the brits to admit that they were wrong
-brits would then give up the right to impressment, admit they had been wrong for 60 years
-brits took this as a huge affront to their honor
-sent 11,000 troops to canada with instructions to attack if the british ambassador was withdrawn
-sent much more naval power to enforce a blockade if necessary
-Seward's response- bring it on
-said that he would fight the whole world if necessary to assert american independence
-british embargoed saltpeter to the US in response
-lincoln eventually returns the ambassadors, the brits essentially get morally bitched

D) KING COTTON
south still DOMINATES the international cotton market
-Hammond (congressman from south carolina) said that there was no way any nation would declare war on cotton
-it was just such a necessary commodity
-south provides 75%-80% of cotton to british mills
-problem here was by the time the war began, most of the 1860 crop of cotton was already sent over
-huge surpluses of cotton in british factories
-the only way the south could induce cotton shortages was to deliberately withhold cotton from the rest of the world for a few years
-Jefferson Davis ended up burning a bunch of cotton crops, etc
-problems with this
-no cash flow
-didnt really have any effect
-the people directly affected (laid-off cotton workers) couldnt vote anyways
-other sectors of the economy boomed (shipbuilding, etc)
-british HATED slavery
-US agricultural exports boomed during the same time period (1860-1862)
-rise of 'King Corn'
-british started diversifying their suppliers
-by the time the south realized what was going on, they were screwed
-most of the crop got burned
-transportation infrastructure was shot
-south got BITCHED
E) THE STRUGGLE OVER RECOGNITION
while in the west the south was losing a bit, in the east, the US was just getting shanked by the CSA
-was getting closer to recognition by other nations
-if DC or Baltimore got taken by the CSA, british might have been prepared to step in and mediate peaceful separation, or even declaring war on the US
-this was UNACCEPTABLE to the US
September of 1862, Robert E Lee decided to push north into maryland on an offensive campaign
-Special Order 191 was sent out by Lee
-got INTERCEPTED by the Union, now the US has the war plans
-any better general than McClellan would have OWNED Lee, McClellan just sucks
antietam, September 17, 1862
bloodiest day in american history, basically evenly matched armies just slaughtered each other
the emancipation proclamation, september 22, 1862
announced after the 'victory' at antietam
-all slaves in the CSA were declared as free
-british werent too keen on this
-they thought that the US was just trying to incite slave rebellions and genocide in the south, just trying to destroy the south
-however, this was a HUGE success around the world

F) EUROPEAN INTERVENTION IN MEXICO
maximillian of hapsburg

July 17, 1861
-president of Mexico suspended payments on interest of loans to foreign countires
-this is 'defaulting'
-spain, france, UK in the Treaty of London of 1861
-went into Mexico to get their money back
-US gets pissed at this violation of the Monroe Doctrine
-Seward realizes that they can't actually fight off the europeans out of mexico, kind of whimpers
-spanish install maximillian of hapsburg as emperor of mexico
-revolts breaks out
-after the civil war, the US starts supplying mexican rebels with arms
-feb 12, 1866
-US demands removal of monarchy from mexico
-blockades mexico, etc
-french withdraw, June 1867, maximillian of hapsburg is lined up and shot
-last intervention in the western hemisphere until the cold war