Browse Items (9 total)

Former President Fillmore's letter to the current executive reflects the growing view among prominent American politicians that war with Britain, increasingly probable as the Trent Affair continued, was undesriable and disadvantageuous to the…

This letter from the Wisconsin Senator was written at the height of the controversy over the Trent. Though the exact parameters of the diplomatic dialogue was still unknown to the majority of the American public, its tense nature was not lost. At the…

Ewing's advice to the president echoes the general sentiment of Union diplomats following the controversy surrounding the response to the Trent in 1861. The issue of British shipyards constructing varied vessels for use in the South's navy quickly…

Relating to the matter of British shipbuilding for the Confederate Navy, this letter from Governor Andrew to the president reflects American concerns of the persistence of this practice. Occuring even as news of the career of the raider Alabama's…

Union concerns over the building of ironclads in Britain for use in the Confederate navy led to increased pressure upon the British government to intervene and halt their construction. In this letter, acting Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox doubts…

Compiled together as a tribute to Lincoln's memory, this item combines both a print of a wood engraving, likely by Punch artist John Tenniel, and a poem also published by Punch, together on a single page. Though republished in 1910, this document…

Despite some hopes that the announcement of the Lincoln Administrations plans on the matter of emancipation, international doubts over the Union position on slavery remained. This cartoon, a satirical take by Punch, highlights the view in Great…

The impact of the Trent Affair shook public attitudes in Northern society, with some clamoring for war with Britain and others cautioning against the risks of such a confrontation. The Prince de Joinville, a son of French nobility residing in the…

This letter to President Lincoln, possibly from then former Ohio Senator Thomas Ewing, reflects some of the concerns within the Northern public as the Trent Affair dragged on. Written only a few weeks before the captured Confederate diplomats were…