President Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln lacked foreign policy experience. Charles Francis Adams was more direct about it. He stated that the United States had never elevated to the presidency “a man with so little
previous preparation for his task as Mr. Lincoln."(1) Seward met with Lincoln on December 15 to determine what actions should be taken after the incident. Seward had been informed by contacts in Britain of Palmerston’s demands before receiving them. Fry states that it was “the greatest foreign policy challenge of their young, and still impermanent, nation’s existence.”(2) Seward realized how deep of a situation the United States was in. Lincoln had advised him, if there were war with Britain, the U.S. could forever lose the Confederacy because the U.S. could not fight two wars at the same time. A second war could destroy the U.S.’s chances to preserve the Union. Seward believed the U.S. should take a conciliatory route and free the captives. Lincoln, however, was against relinquishing the two rebel Southerners. He wanted the U.S. to be heard on the matter and have the dispute go to “friendly arbitration.”(3) 1- Adams, An Address, 29.
2- Joseph A. Fry, Lincoln, Seward, and U.S. Foreign Relations in the Civil War (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2019), 187. ProQuest EbookCentral, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dickinson/detail.action?docID=3239961. 3- Lincoln, “Memorandum,” December, 1861. In Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence.1833-1916: Lincoln, A. (n.d.). Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress American Memory Project. Library of Congress. |