The purpose of this paper is to prove that although England never officially intervened in the American Civil War, they were ultimately supporters of the Confederacy throughout the course of the war. The role of Great Britain in the American Civil War is often overlooked. Although, during the early 1860?s, both the North and the South pinned their hopes for the outcome of the struggle on either British intervention or non-intervention. Before the war progressed very far, Britain?s factions began to take sides. The English liberals tended to support the Union because they feared that if the South was able to successfully secede from the Union, the cause of democratic reform in England would be set back many years. Others, however, found themselves in a quandary. Under the doctrine of natural rights, which English liberals strongly supported, all men have the right to set up ?autonomous and free governments.? Many were forced to concede that the Confederates had the right to secede from the union, even if they did not agree with their aims.
English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...
Summary Map of counties covered and not covered by...
English: Confederate General Robert E. Lee poses i...Another faction of Britain?s political stance, the Tories, saw the Civil War as a natural outgrowth of a democracy without the stabilizing force of patrician classes. They tended to support the rebellious South to show the rest of Britain just how unbeneficial a democracy like America?s could be.
There were other factors that motivated British interest in the American Civil War besides politics. More than any other consideration, economic concerns influenced British policy towards the war. This helped influence the English opinion against the Union. One of these acts was the Unions use of the blockade. On April 27, 1861, President Lincoln formally notified Great Britain and the rest of the world that all ports were under a naval blockade. This announcement outraged the British textile...