By Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia
Even though the Confederacy’s efforts dominated the arena of diplomacy, Abraham Lincoln’s administration was not without their countermoves. While the Union was trying to win favor from Britain and France, they kept on getting embroiled in squabbles with these nations.
Blockade of Confederate Ports
The northern blockade of the Confederacy caused tension between the United States on the one hand, and Great Britain and France and—to a lesser degree—other European nations on the other. The key players here, however, were the United States and Great Britain.
International law said that a blockade had to be effective in order to be legal, in order to be binding on neutral nations. Great Britain and France had declared their neutrality at the outset of the war.
The northern blockade did not seal the entire 3,500-mile long Confederate coast. There were more than 180 inlets, river mouths, bays, and other places where blockade runners could move in and out of the Confederacy, and the United States navy simply was not up to the task of sealing all of those. By the end of the war, most of the major ones had been sealed, but for the early portion of the war, the blockade was really just a paper blockade—it did not meet the test of international law.
Why Great Britain Accepted Northern Blockade
Great Britain ultimately decided not to challenge the legality of the United States blockade. As a maritime power itself, Great Britain often blockaded other nations and always argued that its blockades were legal, even if their blockading vessels didn’t close every port of its enemy.
Great Britain said that, in order for a blockade to be legal, you just had to try to prevent neutral ships from moving in and out. You didn’t actually have to prevent all movement in and out of your opponent’s ports. If Great Britain insisted that the United States fleet cover every southern port in its blockade in order to be legal, the next time Great Britain imposed a blockade, the same test could be applied to the Royal Navy, and the Royal Navy almost never met that test.
Consequently, for this selfish reason, Great Britain accepted the legality of the federal blockade.
This is a transcript from the video series A History of the United States, 2nd Edition. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
The Trent Issue
The closest that Britain and the United States came to armed conflict was in November of 1861. It came when a United States warship, the San Jacinto, stopped the British vessel Trent and seized two Confederate diplomats, took them to Boston, and imprisoned them.
Britain objected to the stopping of a neutral vessel and sent troops to Canada. It increased its naval presence in North America to send a message to the United States, and the message arrived loud and clear in Washington.
Both sides understood that it would be in neither of their best interests to go to war. The Lincoln administration would have had a terrible time trying to deal with the real problem with Britain at the same time it was trying to deal with the Confederacy.
In the end, United States Secretary of State William Henry Seward admitted that the American ship had acted improperly. Lincoln ordered that the diplomats be released, and the Trent crisis passed without any shots being fired.
Controversy over Laird Shipyards
There would still be squabbles between the United States and Great Britain as the rest of the war played out, especially when the United States found out that British shipyards were building ironclad warships for the Confederacy—the Laird Shipyards—but negotiations, in the end, prevented delivery of those warships to the Confederacy.
The United States was especially upset because, earlier in the war, commerce raiders’ sailing vessels had been built in British shipyards, steam and sailing vessels, and delivered to the Confederacy. They became some of the most famous raiders in American naval history.
Clash Avoided
The Alabama was the most famous of all, commanded by Raphael Simms. They captured scores of United States merchant vessels, drove up insurance prices, and caused many vessels to be taken out of American registries and placed on other foreign registries. The United States’ Merchant Marines took an enormous hit during the war because of the activities of these merchant raiders the Confederacy had, which had been built in British shipyards.
The United States and Britain avoided a real clash, though, over the construction of even more dangerous vessels—from the United States’ perspective—these ironclad rams in the Laird Shipyards.
How North Won the Diplomatic Round
In spite of all the controversies and clashes, it was US that won the British favor. Two factors really ensured that the North would win the diplomatic struggles during the Civil War.
One was the inability of Confederate military forces to string together enough victories finally to convince the Europeans that it was a good gamble to come in on the side of the Confederates.
The other factor was the Emancipation Proclamation. After Lincoln’s proclamation went on the books, it became obvious that antislavery Britain would never ally itself with the overtly slaveholding republic, the Confederate States of America.
Common Questions about the Union’s Diplomatic Efforts in the Civil War
There was a clash between the Union and Britain when a United States warship, the San Jacinto, stopped the British vessel Trent and seized two Confederate diplomats, took them to Boston, and imprisoned them. Britain objected to the stopping of a neutral vessel.
The United States was upset because, earlier in the war, commerce raiders’ sailing vessels had been built in British shipyards, steam and sailing vessels, and delivered to the Confederacy. They became some of the most famous raiders in American naval history.
In spite of all the controversies and clashes, it was US that won the British favor, partly because of the Confederacy’s defeats and partly due to the US Emancipation Proclamation.
