Lincoln and Seward-- Part 3: Foreign Relations and a Blockade

Talk given to the McHenry County Civil War Round Table on March 8, 2016.

In his new job as Secretary of State, the early days were intense.  There was the definite chance there might come wars with Spain, France or England, either individually or all together.  Seward went so far as to envision a war against one of these countries being good as it might very well unite the country against a common foe.

At home, Seward wanted Fort Sumter abandoned and Fort Pickens reinforced.  He feared that the undecided Southern states of North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia might secede and join the Confederacy if Lincoln reinforced Fort Sumter.

Then there came the question of declaring a blockade on the Confederacy.  A blockade involves international law and implies an act between two belligerents and not an internal insurrection as the Lincoln government deemed it.  The wording of the declaration had to be changed to become a proclamation in the nature of a blockade.  This was one reason that England and France declared their neutrality.

But, Britain declared a process of belligerency in effect, the first step in recognition.

--Old Secesh