Confederate Envoy's 'The Trent Affair'

In 1796, the President Washington sent a U.S minister to France, but he was refused to recognize the U.S minister because the French retaliated for the British friendly Jay Treaty by abandoning the 1778 alliance with the United States. In Fall 1797, the President Adam dispatched a three-man commission to France for the negotiation, but the French would not receive them. And they sent three French agents, known as X, Y, Z, to the American commissioners and tell the price of the peace treaty is $250,00 to start the diplomacy and $12

At the end of the 18th century, an undeclared war was going on between the United States and France because of the recent XYZ affair; triggering a positive reaction by Federalists like Fisher Ames to convince the authorities to make the war official. Not knowing what to do, President John Adams appointed former-President George Washington as commander of the army to hopefully resolve the issue with France through diplomacy (as was Washington's stance).

For the duration of both wars neither the colonists nor the Confederates ever truly challenged the superior navies they were fighting. What the colonists received that the Confederacy did not was foreign aid from other European naval powers. The Confederacy did appeal to Great Britain, however the British decided to stay out of the conflict entirely with the Queens proclamation of neutrality. This was done at the request of the Union, and also because it would not damage trade relations with the victors of the war. Great Britain, and the rest of Europe, had come to the decision that, “The question of what the future of the American Common Wealth, momentous as it might be for Europe, was an American question, which ought to be fought out-if fought out it must be-in America and by Americans alone.”

The Trent Affair occurred late in 1861, and was the first and most serious diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the United States, also known as the Union, during the American Civil War. Two confederates were arrested by United States Navy officer, Charles Wilkes when he had illegally stopped the Trent (a British flagged vessel). As Lincoln did not want to fight a two-front war, he released the two Confederates, James M. Mason and John Slidell. James M. Mason was elected the U.S. Senate in 1847, and was re-elected in 1850 and 1856.

In 1861 delegates from all over the south met in Montgomery, Alabama, to establish a new nation. This new nation would be called the Confederate States of America, declaring itself a provisional(temporary) Congress. “The countries that attended this convention were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens were chosen unanimously as the provisional president and the vice president in order to convince the other undecided slave states to join the Confederacy. A committee spent five weeks composing a national constitution, that was later approved on March 11. The document closely followed the U.S. Constitution-including its Bill of Rights-with a few notable

Friends and allies: James Madison, John Adams, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette, and others.

The secession of the Southern states became a major issue during the mid-1800s due to disagreements over tariffs and States Rights. One of the biggest issues was that Congress had voted to change the way the people of the South had lived by banning slavery. WIth the election of 1860, Lincoln ran a message of containing slavery to where it currently existed. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book depicting that slavery was evil, which persuaded the Northerners to believe that all slave owners mistreated their slaves. Other events which led to the secession were the caning of Charles Sumner and the violence of “Bleeding

The Confederate South were deeply in need of a individual who had military experience, had a nationwide political status and wasn’t from the north, preferably Virginia. The confederate states without doubt would certainly be caught up in a war with the union as soon as it declared independence, so a nationwide figurehead with military understanding was a

By 1861, eleven southern states had seceded from the United States of America. The Civil War should have been an expeditious Union victory. Not only did the Union contain twice as many states, and have at least three times more freed people, but ninety percent of all factories were in the North, and ninety-seven percent of all guns used in the Civil War were produced in the North. The Confederate Army was more successful than anyone believed it should have been because of its soldiers and leaders, the Confederacy’s enslaved population, and ability to not be defeated in important battles; these things lead to the extensiveness of the Civil War.

Behind every army, there is suppose to be a great leader, but unfortunately for the Confederates their President, Jefferson Davis was less than pleasurable, whereas, for the Union, the actions of President Abraham Lincoln made the war more conquerable. At the beginning of Lincoln's Presidency, few military and political leaders found capable of the job, but eventually with his great ability to communicate with people as well as other leaders he proved that was a great asset to the Union (Davis, 2001). Both Davis and Lincoln lacked military knowledge and had to rely on other well-respected leaders, but their approaches were the total opposite. Davis was known for being short-tempered and very easy to be offended; he would lash out at anyone

Together, they are known for uncovering the British plan to “depreciate the colonial currency” {105}, preventing the British from attacking French reinforcements in 1778 {121 – 124}, and uncovering Benedict Arnold as a double agent {149}.

Norman A. Graebner believed diplomacy was the reason behind the South’s loss in the Civil War. European involvement caused “persistent danger to the Union”, which meant Confederate victory was a threat to global power. Graebner then discussed the reluctance of France and England to aid the Confederates, stating that the British government regarded the American Secretary with suspicion. Charles Francis Adams, the American Minister stationed in London, reported that Seward was viewed as “an ogre fully resolved to eat all British Men raw.” This led to grave concern in Europe due to the questioning of Seward’s leadership since he previously stated the war was nonexistent between the Union and the Confederacy. Seward knew that European interference

Did you know that 4 major generals for the Union were William Franklin, Joseph Hooker, Edwin Sumner, and Ambrose Burnside? Ambrose Burnside was a big help to the Union especially when it came to his plans. One of his plans were to attack the North Carolina coast and it worked they defeated the south, still had to beat the big man Robert

Confederate politicians, including President Jefferson Davis, believed the prospect of foreign recognition would increase if they won a victory on Northern soil; such a victory might gain recognition and financial support from Britain and France, something that was vastly needed xiii.

For the Confederate side they have President Jefferson Davis, General Joseph Johnston, General Joseph Wheeler, and General John B. Hood. President Davis role was to support the South’s way of life and saw after all military operations. General Johnston was in charge of the Army of Tennessee and Polk’s Army of Mississippi, which he was the first to take contact with Sherman’s forces. General Wheeler, who fought along side Johnston, was in charge of 65,000 cavalry men. Finally, there was General Hood who took charge of Johnston’s armies when he was relieved later on.