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Following the diplomatic tensions caused by the Trent Affair in late 1861, American efforts in foreign policy concentrated on generating more amiable relations with nations interested in the effects of the Civil War. This direction pushed Secretary…

An 1863 outing of foreign ambassadors to the Union under Secretary of State William Seward, visiting New York's Trenton Falls; Secretary Seward stands at the far right, marked (1). The British Minister, Lord Lyons, sits in the middle with a white top…

Henry Hotze was a Swiss-born immigrant to the United States who would become one of the Confederacy's prominent propaganda agents abroad. Operating as a journalist in Alabama prior to the war, Hotze would later enter into work for the Confederate…

In a circular sent to the ardent abolitionist, the Union and Emancipation Society's words reflect the general themes and platforms of such groups in the United Kingdom. Delivered late in the war, it conveys the growing hope of British reformers that…

Weed's letter is written in the midst of an deteriorating diplomatic situation between the United States and the British Empire. Informing Secretary Seward of a meeting between himself and the British Foreign Minister, Earl Russell, Weed's account…

In this letter, the Union agent - and friend to Secretary of State William Seward - informs the secretary of efforts made by the British government to strengthen the security of their Canadian territories. In response to the Trent Affair's escalation…

This letter from the Union agent addresses some of the concerns for the potential fallout of the Trent Affair in the case of further escalation. The threat of European intervention in the war, either militarily or as forceful mediators, amplified the…

Thurlow Weed, a Republican politician, was operating in London throughout the Civil War, acting as an unofficial agent for the Lincoln administration's efforts to placate British opinion on the war. This letter to Sec. Seward, dated December 4, 1861,…

One of the last outstanding diploamtic issues of the  Civil War, the resolution of American damage claims over the actions of the British-built Confederate raider Alabama, and others of her kind, was a persistent issue throughout the aftermath of 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…