L3+Pelletier+Jennifer

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, HEALTH AND REHABILITATION LESSON PLAN FORMAT**
 * UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FARMINGTON

Lesson 3:** Recognize the outside parties involved in the Civil War and how they impacted the outcome of the war.
 * Teacher’s Name:** **Ms. Pelletier
 * Grade Level:** **10 Topic:** Civil War [Outside Parties]

__**Objectives**__

 * Student will understand that** outside parties contributed to the outcome of the war between the North and the South.
 * Student will know** what led up to the war, beginning of war, important events/battles, end of war in terms of how other countries and territories helped both the North and the South, the Confederates vs. the Union, and outside help on both sides.
 * Student will be able to** recognize the outside parties involved in the Civil War and how they impacted the outcome of the war. Product: Blog

__**Maine Learning Results Alignment**__
Maine Learning Results: Social Studies - E. History E1. Historical Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns Grade 10 - **Diploma** Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850 - 1877 Students understand major eras, major enduring themes, and historic influences in United States and world history, including the roots of democratic philosophy, ideals, and institutions in the world. b. Analyze and critique major historical eras, major enduring themes, turning points, events, consequences, and people in the history of the United States and world and the implications for the present and future.

In this lesson, students will understand historic influences of the Civil War, meaning the outside parties involved. Such outside involvement from foreign parties have many implications for the present and future, which the students will explore. Students will know what led up to the war, beginning of war, important events/battles, end of war in terms of how other countries and territories helped both the North and the South, the Confederates vs. the Union, and outside help on both sides.
 * Rationale:**

__**Assessment**__

 * Formative (Assessment for Learning)**

Students will write another blog about the questions and uncertainties they still have about outside parties involved in the Civil War. This blog will be entitled, "Questions and Uncertainties".


 * Summative (Assessment of Learning)**

Students will write a blog about the outside parties involved in the Civil War and how they affected the outcome of the war. This blog shall be entitled, "Outside Parties".

__**Integration**__
1. Technology - This lesson incorporates writing with technology using blogs. Students will choose their own style of blog, then write about their learning throughout the lesson. Students are also responsible for commenting on their peer's blogs. Students get a chance to really think about the Civil War as they examine the opinions of others. Blogging will give students a chance to improve their reading and writing skills while still learning about history. They will also gain new perspectives of how the war happened and what role other parties had in the war.

2. This lesson also relates to English, because students are expected to read and write about the other parties involved in the Civil War.

__Groupings__
Students will complete a sandwich chart as they work in a Numbered Heads Together cooperative group. Students will be split into groups of four. Students will draw a number wish a letter on it out of a hat. For example, if a student got a "1A," then that student would be number one in group A. Students will be given specific questions that they will work together to answer. When most of the students have answers, the teacher will begin asking questions, calling out the number of the people she wants to answer. For example, if I call out the number two, then all of the twos must answer the question.

__**Differentiated Instruction**__

 * Strategies**


 * Verbal:** Students must use language to write their blogs, respond to other blogs, and collaborate during the Numbered Heads Together activity.
 * Logical:** Students will organize their work in a Sandwich Chart and through the group work of a Numbered Heads Together.
 * Visual:** Blog template can be personalized according to what is most visually appealing to the student; students will also use a Sandwich Chart to visually organize their work.
 * Naturalist:** Students may include how outside help assisted in accordance with the terrain of the war zone, as well as add pictures to their blogs.
 * Intrapersonal:** Students will complete most of their work on their own.
 * Interpersonal:** Students will work in a group during the Numbered Heads Together and collaborate through the blogs by responding to others and assessing and possibly using the information given by others on their own blog.


 * Modifications/Accommodations**


 * (** //I will review student’s IEP, 504 or ELLIDEP and make appropriate modifications and accommodations.//**)**

This lesson is only one day. If a student misses class, then they will need to meet with me before the next class. When we meet, I will explain what we did on the day the student was absent and together we will figure out a plan for when the student can get the blogs finished. The student may not get a chance to peer review, but I will give the opportunity for feedback with the teacher.

Students will think deeply about the importance of allies, especially in a war, and write one paragraph of three to five sentences explaining their thoughts.
 * Extensions**

__**Materials, Resources and Technology**__
Computers with internet access (laptop cart) each student to have a blog account costume for my hook sandwich chart hat pieces of paper with numbers (one through four) and letters information about outside parties in the Civil War

__Source for Lesson Plan and Research__

 * http://www.civilwarhome.com/europeandcivilwar.htm
 * Britain in the war and the Trent Affair: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_in_the_American_Civil_War
 * Canada in the war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_in_the_American_Civil_War
 * Bahamas in the war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahamas_in_the_American_Civil_War
 * French intervention: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/cw/106955.htm

__**Maine Standards for Initial Teacher Certification and Rationale**__
Rationale:**
 * //Standard 3 - Demonstrates a knowledge of the diverse ways in which students learn and develop by providing learning opportunities that support their intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and cultural development.//


 * Beach Ball:** I have a variety of resources. Students can choose the set up of their blogs. Students also get to pick from a hat to decide which group they are in, which is unexpected and has unpredictable results.


 * Clipboard:** This lesson is clear because there are sequential steps to the process of this lesson. There is closure because students must blog about what they are still confused on and then extend farther into the importance of allies. The steps are blog, respond, blog, so expectations are clear. I will also show the students what is expected by demonstrating what they will do using my own blog.


 * Microscope:** Students will deeply explore why allies are important, especially in a war, as well as examine the role of outside parties in the Civil War. Students will also think about what other students have to say and respond with their own thoughts, exploring new ways to think about ideas and concepts.


 * Puppy:** Students are doing almost all of their work on the computers, which seems to be an increasing trend of comfort. If students disagree, a potential argument will be less intense because students will not necessarily be looking at each others faces. I will be moving around the room, answering questions and encouraging deep thinking.

Rationale:**
 * //Standard 4 - Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, curriculum goals, and learning and development theory.//

Students will be able to recognize the outside parties involved in the Civil War and how they impacted the outcome of the war. Students will explore why it is important for a country to have allies. Students will uncover the importance of allies in the Civil War.

Rationale:**
 * //Standard 5 - Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technology to meet students’ needs.//

I will use technology to demonstrate what steps will be completed in what order. I will also use technology to monitor my students' work and see how far each one is coming along. Students will use technology to complete the task, as well as explore new information.


 * Verbal:** Students must use language to write their blogs, respond to other blogs, and collaborate during the Numbered Heads Together activity.
 * Logical:** Students will organize their work in a Sandwich Chart and through the group work of a Numbered Heads Together.
 * Visual:** Blog template can be personalized according to what is most visually appealing to the student; students will also use a Sandwich Chart to visually organize their work.
 * Naturalist:** Students may include how outside help assisted in accordance with the terrain of the war zone, as well as add pictures to their blogs.
 * Intrapersonal:** Students will complete most of their work on their own.
 * Interpersonal:** Students will work in a group during the Numbered Heads Together and collaborate through the blogs by responding to others and assessing and possibly using the information given by others on their own blog.

Rationale:**
 * //Standard 8 - Understands and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and support the development of the learner.//

Students will use blogs for both their summative and formative assessments. My summative assessment is that students will write a blog about the outside parties involved in the Civil War and how they affected the outcome of the war. This blog shall be entitled, "Outside Parties". For my formative assessment, students will write another blog about the questions and uncertainties they still have about outside parties involved in the Civil War. This blog will be entitled, "Questions and Uncertainties".

__Teaching and Learning Sequence__
Hook - 5 minutes Numbered Heads Together and Sandwich Chart - 20 minutes "Outside Parties" blog - 20 minutes Revisions - 15 minutes "Questions and Uncertainties" blog - 5 minutes Extensions - 15 minutes

My classroom will be set up in tables of four desks each. Each table will have a letter on it, (A, B, C, D, E, or F). As the students walk in, they will pick a piece of paper with a number and a letter on it. They will sit at the table with the corresponding letter. I will hook my students in by wearing a foreign costume, then explain why I am wearing it. Students will understand that outside parties contributed to the outcome of the war between the North and the South. Countries need to have allies, especially during a time of war. //Students understand major eras, major enduring themes, and historic influences in United States and world history, including the roots of democratic philosophy, ideals, and institutions in the world.// **(What)** **(Where)** **(Why) (Tailor) Visual**

Students will know what led up to the war, beginning of war, important events/battles, end of war in terms of how other countries and territories helped both the North and the South, the Confederates vs. the Union, and outside help on both sides.Students will complete a sandwich chart as they work in a Numbered Heads Together cooperative group. Students will be split into groups of four. Students will draw a number wish a letter on it out of a hat. For example, if a student got a "1A," then that student would be number one in group A. Students will be given specific questions that they will work together to answer. When most of the students have answers, the teacher will begin asking questions, calling out the number of the people she wants to answer. For example, if I call out the number two, then all of the twos must answer the question. Students will explore the information using the information provided by the teacher. The Numbered Heads Together activity will also help me check for understanding. **(Equip) (Explore) (Experience) (Tailor) Verbal, Interpersonal**

Students will then begin to write their "Outside Parties" blog. After they are finished, students will reread their blog about what they know about how outside help affected the war. Students may use pictures in their blogs, as long as they are sited properly. Students will respond to at least three other blogs and then use what they have learned to revise their own blogs. Students will get teacher feedback and refine their blogs accordingly. Students will be able to recognize the outside parties involved in the Civil War and how they impacted the outcome of the war. **(Refine) (Revise) (Rethink) (Tailor) Logical, Naturalistic, Intrapersonal, Visual, Verbal**

To self assess, students will write another blog about the questions and uncertainties they still have about outside parties involved in the Civil War. This blog will be entitled, "Questions and Uncertainties". Students will then begin their extensions. While they do this, I will read through their "Questions and Uncertainties" blogs and check for misunderstanding. When students are finished their extensions, I will address any misconceptions. **(Tailor) Logical, Intrapersonal, Verbal**


 * Content Notes**

Jump to: [|navigation], [|search] The [|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland] was officially neutral in the [|American Civil War]. Confederate strategy for securing independence was largely based on British and French intervention, which never happened; intervention would have meant war with the U.S. A serious conflict between Britain and the U.S. erupted over the "Trent Affair" in 1861, and a British shipyard (John Laird and Sons) built two warships for the Confederacy over vehement American protests. The British also built and operated most of the blockade runners, spending hundreds of millions of pounds on them; but that was legal. In the end, these instances of British involvement neither shifted the outcome of the war nor provoked the U.S. into declaring war against Britain. The United States' diplomatic mission headed by Minister [|Charles Francis Adams, Sr.] proved much more successful than the Confederate missions, which were never officially recognized. [|[1]]
 * Britain in the American Civil War**
 * From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia**

The //Trent// Affair
Main article: [|Trent Affair] Outright war between the U.S. and Britain was a possibility in the fall of 1861, when a U.S. naval officer, Captain [|Charles Wilkes], took control of a British mail ship and seized two Confederate diplomats. [|Confederate President] [|Jefferson Davis] had named [|James M. Mason] of [|Virginia] and [|John Slidell] of [|Louisiana] as commissioners to represent Confederate interests abroad; Mason was en route to England and Slidell to France. They slipped out of [|Charleston, South Carolina], on a [|blockade runner] at the beginning of October and went via the British Bahamas to Spanish [|Havana] , where they took passage for England on the British mail steamer [|//Trent//]. [|[11]] The [|USS //San Jacinto//] had put in at a Cuban port, looking for news of Confederate agents who were reported to be active in that vicinity. Wilkes received word of Mason and Slidell's presence. It was generally agreed at this time that a nation at war had the right to stop and search a neutral merchant ship if it suspected that ship of carrying the enemy's dispatches. Mason and Slidell, Wilkes reasoned, were in effect Confederate dispatches, and he had the right to remove them. So on [|November 8] , [|1861] , he steamed out into the [|Bahama Channel] , fired twice across the //Trent//’s bow, sent a boat's crew aboard, seized the Confederate commissioners, and bore them off in triumph to the United States, where they were held prisoner in Boston. Wilkes was hailed as a national hero. Congress voted him its thanks, and [|Secretary of the Navy] [|Gideon Welles] commended him. This triggered an uproar in Britain. Eleven thousand British troops were sent to [|Canada], the British fleet was put on a war footing, with plans to capture New York City, and a sharp note was dispatched to Washington demanding return of the prisoners and an apology. Lincoln, concerned about Britain entering the war, issued an apology and ordered the prisoners released. [|[12]] War was unlikely in any event, for the U.S. was providing Britain with over 40% of its wheat ("corn") imports during the war years, and suspension would have caused massive famine because Britain imported about 35-45% of its grain, and poor crops in France made it even more dependent on shiploads from New York. Britain's loss of cotton was made up by imports from other countries by 1863. Furthermore, Britain was making large profits selling munitions to the Union. [|[13]] The Trent Affair precipitated the [|Lyons-Seward Treaty of 1862], an agreement to clamp down hard on the Atlantic slave trade, using the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy.

At the same time, however, Canadians were almost universally opposed to [|slavery] and Canada had long been the terminus of the [|Underground Railroad]. Close economic and cultural links across the long border also encouraged Canadian sympathy towards the North. While most [|French Canadians] were sympathetic towards abolition, they were also somewhat pro-South in their outlook. The conservative and Catholic press in [|French Canada] supported the secession but were opposed to slavery.
 * Canada in the American Civil War**
 * From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia**
 * At the time of the [|American Civil War], [|Canada] ** did not yet exist as a federated nation. Instead, the territory consisted of the [|United Province of Canada] (modern [|southern Ontario] , southern [|Quebec] and [|Labrador] ), the six other remaining colonies of [|British North America] and crown territory administered by the [|Hudson's Bay Company] . The [|United Kingdom] (and therefore its North American colonies) was officially neutral for the duration of the [|American Civil War] and sympathies in the nation were divided. Despite this, tensions between Britain and the North were high due to incidents on the seas, such as the [|Trent Affair] and the Confederate commissioning of the [|CSS //Alabama//] from Britain. If the conflict had continued to escalate and Britain had entered the war, Canada would probably have been the first target of Union forces. During the war, Britain thus reinforced its garrisons in Canada. Many Canadians also felt the smaller, weaker United States that would result from the separation of the South would be a positive development[// [|citation needed] //].

Although a territory of the [|British Empire], during the ** [|American Civil War] **, the ** [|Bahamas] ** were affected by the great conflict. Much as in the age of pirates the Bahamas were a haven for the swashbucklers, between 1861 to 1865 the Bahamas were a haven for [|blockade runners] aligned with the [|Confederate States of America]. Although [|Florida] is still only 55 miles away, the state had few ports of any real consequence at the time. Hence, blockade runners would make their trips from [|Nassau] to [|Charleston, South Carolina], the largest Confederate port on the [|Atlantic Coast]. [|Grand Bahama Island] was losing population throughout the 19th century, in favor of Nassau. With the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, the population of the area doubled, due to the actions of the blockade runners. [|[1]] In Nassau, things would be altered too by the war. The first blockade runner docked at Nassau on [|December 5], [|1861]. By the end of the war, 397 ships sailed from the Confederacy to Nassau, and 588 went from Nassau to the Confederacy. [|[2]] The newly built [|Grand Victoria Hotel] was meant to have Americans arrive as tourists, but instead the Americans that visited it were blockade runners. Every night the runners would hold parties celebrating their most recent success past the [|Union Navy]. Also to be seen at the hotel were Union spies, Confederate officers, and [|reporters]. [|[3]] In 1860 Nassau imports were valued at [|£] 234,029, and exports were worth £157,350. At 1864, at the pinnacle of trade from the South to Nassau, imports were valued at £5,346,112, and exports at £4,672,398. [|[4]] A blockade runner would take cotton from Charleston to Nassau, a distance of 560 miles away, and a sailing time of 48 hours. [|[5]] As the Union had a blockade around all Southern ports, blockade runners had to be fast. Blockade runners would trade the cotton at Nassau for British goods, with the cotton eventually finding its way to British cotton mills. [|[6]] After the war ended, the Bahamas would fall into hard times that it would not recover from until another period of American turmoil hit; [|Prohibition]. In this case, [|Scotch whisky] was what went to the United States, and as when the war ended, when Prohibition ended, so too did the Bahamas' fortunes. [|[7]] A considerable number of Bahamians can trace their ancestry back to Southerners who left the States both before and during the war.
 * Bahamas in the American Civil War**
 * From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia**

** Europe and the American Civil War **
 * The war had a direct bearing on the United States' foreign relations and the relations that were most important were those with the two dominant powers of Europe, England and France. Each country was a monarchy, and a monarchy does not ordinarily like to see a rebellion succeed in any land. (The example may prove contagious.) Yet the war had not progressed very far before it was clear that the ruling classes in each of these two countries sympathized strongly with the Confederacy-so strongly that with just a little prodding they might be moved to intervene and bring about Southern independence by force of arms. The South was, after all, an aristocracy, and the fact that it had a broad democratic base was easily overlooked at a distance of three thousand miles. Europe's aristocracies had never been happy about the prodigious success of the Yankee democracy. If the nation now broke into halves, proving that democracy did not contain the stuff of survival, the rulers of Europe would be well pleased. **
 * To be sure, the Southern nation was based on the institution of chattel slavery-a completely repugnant anachronism by the middle of the nineteenth century. Neither the British nor the French people would go along with any policy that involved fighting to preserve slavery. But up to the fall of 1862 slavery was not an issue in the war. The Federal government had explicitly declared that it was fighting solely to save the Union. If a Southern emissary wanted to convince Europeans that they could aid the South without thereby aiding slavery, he could prove his case by citing the words of the Federal President and Congress. As far as Europe was concerned, no moral issue was involved; the game of power politics could be played with a clear conscience. **
 * So it **//was// ** played, and the threat of European intervention was real and immediate. Outright war with England nearly took place in the fall of 1861, when a hot-headed US. naval officer, Captain Charles Wilkes, undertook to twist the lion's tail and got more of a reaction than anyone was prepared for. **
 * Jefferson Davis had named two distinguished Southerners, James M. Mason of Virginia and John Slidell of Louisiana, as commissioners to represent Confederate interests abroad, Mason in England and Slidell in France. They got out of Charleston, South Carolina, on a blockade-runner at the beginning of October and went via Nassau to Havana, where they took passage for England on the British mail steamer **//Trent.//
 * Precisely at this time U.S.S. **//San Jacinto// ** was returning to the United States from a long tour of duty along the African coast.. She put in at a Cuban port, looking for news of Confederate commerce raiders which were reported to be active in that vicinity, and there her commander, Captain Wilkes, heard about Mason and Slidell. He now worked out a novel interpretation of international law. A nation at war (it was generally agreed) had a right to stop and search a neutral merchant ship if it suspected that ship of carrying the enemy's dispatches. Mason and Slidell, Wilkes reasoned, were in effect Confederate dispatches, and he had a right to remove them. So on November 8, 1861, he steamed out into the Bahama Channel, fired twice across Trent's bows, sent a boat's crew aboard, collared the Confederate commissioners, and bore them off in triumph to the United States, where they were lodged in Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor. Wilkes was hailed as a national hero. Congress voted him its thanks, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, ordinarily a most cautious mortal, warmly commended him. **
 * But in England there was an uproar which almost brought on a war. The mere notion that Americans could halt a British ship on the high seas and remove lawful passengers was intolerable. Eleven thousand regular troops were sent to Canada, the British fleet was put on a war footing, and a sharp note was dispatched to the United States, demanding surrender of the prisoners and a prompt apology. **
 * If the general tempo of things had not been so feverish just then, experts on international law might have amused themselves by pointing out that the American and British governments had precisely reversed their traditional policies. In the Napoleonic wars British warships had exercised the right of search and seizure without restraint, stopping American merchant ships on the high seas to remove persons whom they suspected of being British subjects-doing, in fact, exactly what Wilkes had done with a slightly different object. The United States government had protested that this was improper and illegal, and the whole business had helped bring on the War of 1812. Now an American naval officer had done what British naval officers had done half a century earlier, and the British government was protesting in the same way the earlier American government had done. If anyone cared to make anything of it, the situation was somewhat ironic. **
 * It was touch and go for a while, because a good many brash Yankees were quite willing to fight the British, and the seizure of the Confederate commissioners had somehow seemed like a great victory. But Lincoln stuck to the policy of one war at a time, and after due deliberation the apology was made and the prisoners were released. The Trent incident was forgotten, and the final note was strangely anticlimactic. The transports bearing the British troops to Canada arrived off the American coast just after the release and apology. Secretary of State Seward offered, a little too graciously, to let the soldiers disembark on American soil for rapid transportation across Maine, but the British coldly rejected this unnecessary courtesy. **
 * The **//Trent// ** affair had been symptomatic. The war had put a heavy strain on relations between the United States and Great Britain, and there would always be danger that some unexpected occurrence would bring on a war. Yet the two countries were fortunate in the character of their diplomats. The American Minister in London was Charles Francis Adams, and the British Minister in Washington was Lord Lyons, and these two had done all they could, in the absence of instructions from their governments, to keep the Trent business from getting out of hand. Even Secretary of State Seward, who earlier had shown a politician's weakness for making votes in America by defying the British, proved supple enough to retreat with good grace from an untenable position; and Earl Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, who had sent a very stiff note, nevertheless phrased it carefully so that Seward could make his retreat without too great difficulty. **
 * Much more serious was the situation that developed late in the summer of 1862. At that time, as far as any European could see, the Confederacy was beginning to look very much like a winner-a point which James Mason insistently pressed home with British officialdom. The Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital had failed, Virginia's soil had been cleared of invaders, and in the East and West alike the Confederates were on the offensive. Minister Adams warned Seward that the British government might very soon offer to mediate the difficulty between North and South, which would be a polite but effective way of intimating that in the opinion of Great Britain the quarrel had gone on long enough and ought to be ended-by giving the South what it wanted. Adams knew what he was talking about. Earl Russell had given Mason no encouragement whatever, but after news of the Second Battle of Bull Pun reached London, he and Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, agreed that along in late September or thereabouts there should be a cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary would ask approval of the mediation proposal. (Implicit in all of this was the idea that if the Northern government should refuse to accept mediation, Britain would go ahead and recognize the Confederacy.) With a saving note of caution, Russell and Palmerston concluded not to bring the plan before the cabinet until they got further word about Lee's invasion of the North. If the Federals were beaten, then the proposal would go through; if Lee failed, then it might be well to wait a little longer before taking any action. **
 * On October 7 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William E. Gladstone, made a notable speech at Newcastle in which he remarked that no matter what one's opinion of slavery might be, facts had to be faced: "There is no doubt that Jefferson Davis and other leaders of the South have made an army; they are making, it appears, a navy; and they have made what is more than either-they have made a nation." He added, "We may anticipate with certainty the success of the Southern States so far as regards their separation from the North." **
 * Naturally enough, this raised a sensation. Gladstone explained that he had simply been expressing his own opinion rather than that of the government, and when Earl Russell saw the speech, he wrote Gladstone that he "went beyond the latitude which all speakers must be allowed." His lordship went on to say that he did not think the cabinet was prepared for recognition, but that it would meet very soon to discuss the project. **
 * In all of this there was less of actual hostility toward the North than is usually supposed. Palmerston and Russell were prepared to accept an accomplished fact, when and if such a fact became visible; if the Confederacy was definitely going to win, the fact ought to be admitted and the war ought to be ended. But they were not prepared to go further than that. Gladstone might commit his calculated indiscretion, the upper class might continue to hold the Confederates as sentimental favorites, and the London Times might thunder at intervals against the Northern government; but the British government itself tried to be scrupulously correct, and long before the war ended, ardent Southerners were complaining that the government's attitude had been consistently hostile to the Confederacy. Even the business of the British-built cruisers and ironclad rams did not alter this situation. Legally, vessels like the Alabama were simply fast merchant ships, given arms and a warlike character only after they had left English waters, and the government had no legal ground to prevent their construction and delivery. The famous rams themselves were technically built for French purchasers, and even though it was an open secret that they would ultimately go into the Confederate navy, there was never anything solid for the British authorities to put their teeth into. When the British government finally halted the deal and forced the builders to sell the rams to the British navy, it actually stretched the law very substantially. That it did this under a plain threat of war from the United States did not alter the fact that in the end the Confederacy could not get what it desperately wanted from Great Britain. **
 * Nor was the United States without active friends in England. Such reformers as John Bright and Richard Cobden spoke up vigorously in support of the Lincoln government, and even when the cotton shortage threw thousands of textile workers out of employment, the British working class remained consistently opposed to the Confederacy. But the decisive factor, in the fall of 1862 and increasingly thereafter, was the Battle of Antietam and what grew out of it. **
 * Antietam by itself showed that Lee's invasion was not going to bring that final, conclusive Confederate triumph which had been anticipated. The swift recession of the high Confederate tide was as visible in England as in America, and as the autumn wore away Palmerston and Russell concluded that it would not be advisable to bring the mediation-recognition program before the cabinet. **
 * Far more significant than Antietam, however, was the Emancipation Proclamation, which turned out to be one of the strangest and most important state papers ever issued by an American President. **
 * During the late spring and early summer of 1862 Lincoln had come to see that he must broaden the base of the war. Union itself was not enough; the undying vitality and drive of Northern antislavery men must be brought into full, vigorous support of the war effort, and to bring this about the Northern government must officially declare itself against slavery. Lincoln was preparing such a declaration even before McClellan's army left the Virginia Peninsula, but he could not issue it until the North had won a victory. (Seward pointed out that to issue it on the heels of a string of Northern defeats would make it look as if the government were despairingly crying for help rather than making a statement of principle.) Antietam gave Lincoln the victory he had to have, and on September 22 he issued the famous proclamation, the gist of which was that on January 1, 1863, all slaves held in a state or a part of a state which was in rebellion should be "then, thence-forward and forever free." **
 * Technically, the proclamation was almost absurd. It proclaimed freedom for all slaves in precisely those areas where the United States could not make its authority effective, and allowed slavery to continue in slave states which remained under Federal control. It was a statement of intent rather than a valid statute, and it was of doubtful legality; Lincoln had issued it as a war measure, basing it on his belief that the President's undefined "war powers" permitted him to do just about anything he chose to do in order to win the war, but the courts might not agree with him. Abolitionists felt that it did not go nearly far enough, and border-state people and many Northern Democrats felt that it went altogether too far. But in the end it changed the whole character of the war and, more than any other single thing, doomed the Confederacy to defeat. **
 * The Northern Government now was committed to a broader cause, with deep, mystic overtones; it was fighting for union and for human freedom as well, and the very nature of the Union for which it was fighting would be permanently deepened and enriched. A new meaning was given to Daniel Webster's famous "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable"; the great Battle Hymn now rang out as an American Marseillaise, and Northerners who had wondered whether the war was quite worth its terrible cost heard, at last, the notes of the bugle that would never call retreat. A war goal with emotional power as direct and enduring as the Confederacy's own had at last been erected for all men to see. **
 * And in Europe the American Civil War had become something in which no western government dared to intervene. The government of Britain, France, or any other nation could play power politics as it chose, as long as the war meant nothing more than a government's attempt to put down a rebellion; but no government that had to pay the least attention to the sentiment of its own people could take sides against a government which was trying to destroy slavery. The British cabinet was never asked to consider the proposition which Palmerston and Russell had been talking about, and after 1862 the chance that Great Britain would decide in favor of the Confederacy became smaller and smaller and presently vanished entirely. The Emancipation Proclamation had locked the Confederates in an anachronism which could not survive in the modern world. **
 * Along with this there went a much more prosaic material factor. Europe had had several years of short grain crops, and during the Civil War the North exported thousands of tons of grain-grain which could be produced in increasing quantities, despite the wartime manpower shortage, because the new reapers and binders were boosting farm productivity so sharply. Much as Great Britain needed American cotton, just now she needed American wheat even more. In a showdown she was not likely to do anything that would cut off that source of food. **
 * All of this did not mean that Secretary Seward had no more problems in his dealings with the world abroad. The recurring headache growing out of the British habit of building ships for the Confederate navy has already been noted. There was also Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, who was a problem all by himself. **
 * Napoleon's government in many ways was quite cordial to the Confederates, and in the fall of 1862 Napoleon talked with Slidell and then proposed that France, England, and Russia Join in trying to bring about a six-month armistice. To Slidell the Emperor remarked that if the Northern government rejected this proposal, that might give good reason for recognition and perhaps even for active intervention. Neither Britain nor Russia would go along with him, but early in 1863 Napoleon had the French Minister at Washington suggest to Seward that there ought to be a meeting of Northern and Southern representatives to see whether the war might not be brought to a close. Seward politely but firmly rejected this suggestion, and the Congress, much less politely, formally resolved that any foreign government which made such proposals was thereby committing an unfriendly act. Whether Napoleon really expected anything to come of his suggestion is a question; probably he strongly wanted a Southern victory but was afraid to do anything definite without British support. His real interest was in Mexico, where he took advantage of the war to create a French puppet state, installing the Hapsburg Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico in direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Propped up by French troops, Maximilian managed to hang on to his shaky throne for several years, and if his control over the country had been firmer, Napoleon would probably have given the Confederacy, from that base, more active support. Shortly after Appomattox the Federal government sent Phil Sheridan and 50,000 veterans to the Mexican border in blunt warning, Seward filed a formal protest against the occupation, and Napoleon withdrew his soldiers. When the French troops left, the Mexicans regained control, and Maximilian was deposed and executed. **
 * Singularly enough, the one European country which showed a definite friendship for the Northern government was Czarist Russia. In the fall of 1863 two Russian fleets entered American waters, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific. They put into New York and San Francisco harbors and spent the winter there, and the average Northerner expressed both surprise and delight over the visit, assuming that the Russian Czar was taking this means of warning England and France that if they made war in support of the South, he would help the North. Since pure altruism is seldom or never visible in any country's foreign relations, the business was not quite that simple. Russia at the time was in some danger of getting into a war with England and France, for reasons totally unconnected with the Civil War in America; to avoid the risk of having his fleets icebound in Russian ports, the Czar simply had them winter in American harbors. If war should come, they would be admirably placed to raid British and French commerce. For many years most Americans believed that for some inexplicable reason of his own the Czar had sent the fleets simply to show his friendship for America. **
 * Considering the course of the war as a whole, it must be said that Northern diplomacy was highly successful and that Southern diplomacy was a flat failure. At the time, most Northerners bitterly resented what they considered the unfriendly attitude of Britain and France, but neither country did much that would give the South any real nourishment. The British commerce raiders were indeed expensive nuisances to the North, and the famous **//"Alabama// ** claims" after the war were prosecuted with vigor; but cruisers like the **//Alabama// ** might have ranged the seas for a generation without ever compelling the North to give up the struggle. The open recognition, the active aid, the material and financial support which the South needed so greatly were never forthcoming. Europe refused to take a hand in America's quarrel. North and South were left to fight it out between themselves. **
 * Source: The American Heritage New History of the Civil War, (Part of Chapter 6) **

In 1862, French Emperor Napoleon III maneuvered to establish a French client state in Mexico, and eventually installed Maximilian of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico. Stiff Mexican resistance caused Napoleon III to order French withdrawal in 1867, a decision strongly encouraged by a United States recovered from its [|Civil War weakness in foreign affairs]. Earlier, during the Civil War, U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward followed a more cautious policy that attempted to keep relations with France harmonious and prevent French willingness to assist the Confederacy. Consequently, Maximilian's government rebuffed Confederate diplomatic overtures. In 1857, Mexico became embroiled in a civil war that pitted the forces of liberal reformist Benito Juárez against conservatives led by Félix Zuloaga. Conservatives exerted control from Mexico City, and liberals from Veracruz. The United States recognized the Juárez government in 1859, and in January of 1861, liberal forces captured Mexico City, greatly strengthening Juárez's position and legitimacy. However, continued instability had coincided with growing foreign debt that was increasingly difficult for the Mexican government to pay. Secretary of State Seward offered a plan that would provide mining concessions in exchange for American loans. In the event that the debts were not repaid, Mexico would agree to the cession of Baja California and other Mexican states. The terms of the loan were onerous to the Mexican government, but U.S. diplomat Thomas Corwin successfully negotiated a treaty with Mexican representative Manuel María Zamacona. Ultimately, though, the U.S. Congress rejected the treaty on grounds that it would drain money from Civil War expenditures. With no other options, Juárez suspended payments on Mexican debt for two years. In response, representatives from the Spanish, French, and British governments met in London, and on October 31, 1861, signed a tripartite agreement to intervene in Mexico to recover the unpaid debts. European forces landed at Veracruz on December 8. Juárez urged resistance, while conservatives saw the intervening forces as valuable allies in their struggle against the liberals. Although the British and Spanish governments had more limited plans for intervention, Napoleon III was interested in reviving French global ambitions, and French forces captured Mexico City, while Spanish and British forces withdrew after French plans became clear. In 1863, Napoleon III invited Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, to become Emperor of Mexico. Maximilian accepted the offer and arrived in Mexico in 1864. Although Maximilian's conservative government controlled much of the country, liberals held on to power in northwestern Mexico and parts of the Pacific coast. In response to these actions, Secretary of State Seward issued statements of disapproval, but the U.S. Government was unable to intervene directly because of the American Civil War. Moreover, both Seward and U.S. President Abraham Lincoln did not want to further antagonize Napoleon III, and risk his intervention on the side of the Confederacy. The U.S. Government also rejected overtures from other Latin American countries for a pan-American solution to the conflict. However, the Mexican Minister to the United States, Matías Romero, worked carefully to build American support for Mexico. Seward soon began to show increased support for Juarez's government. The end of the American Civil War in 1865 coincided with the beginnings of success for Juárez's forces against Maximilian's. Maximilian, ill-informed on Mexican affairs prior to his arrival, alienated his conservative allies by attempting to adopt more liberal policies, while he failed to win over liberals, who saw him as a tool of French interests and Mexican conservatives. In 1865, liberal military victories made Maximilian's position increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, U.S. Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Henry Sheridan bypassed Seward and began covert support of Juarez along the Texas-Mexico border. By then, the intervention in Mexico had grown unpopular with the French public, and was an increasing drain on the French treasury. On January 31, 1866, Napoleon III ordered the withdrawal of French troops, to be conducted in three stages from November 1866 to November 1867. Seward, who had earlier been more cautious, warned the Austrian Government against replacing French troops with its own forces, and the threat of war convinced the Austrian government to refrain from sending Maximilian reinforcements. Without European support, Maximilian was unable to retain power. His capture by Mexican forces, court-martial, and sentence to be executed marked the end of direct European intervention in Mexico. Seward hoped that U.S. support for Juárez would improve relations with Mexico, but as part of Seward's broader strategy of U.S. expansion, he hoped that the improved relations would eventually convince Mexico to join the United States. Throughout the period of French intervention, the overall U.S. policy was to avoid direct conflict with France, and voice displeasure at French interference in Mexican affairs, but ultimately to remain neutral in the conflict. After 1866, Seward provided more direct support for Juárez, while French willingness to withdraw de-escalated Franco-American tensions. Although U.S. support for Juárez improved U.S.-Mexican relations temporarily, disputes over policing of the border under Secretary of State William Evarts would erode the good will built during Seward's tenure.
 * French Intervention in Mexico and the American Civil War, 1862-1867**


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