Southern
Foreign Relations
When the Civil War started in 1861, the Confederacy thought there biggest diplomat would be "King Cotton". At that time cotton fueled the U.S. economy. Northern factories used cotton from the south to make textiles. The whole world wanted cotton and the southern states were the biggest suppliers. The Confederacy refused to export cotton to the north causing many textile factories to go bankrupt. The South then tried to force European powers like, Britain and France, to help them by refusing to trade cotton but was unsuccessful. Britain and France had already stated using alternative sources like Egypt and India. Finally, The Confederacy had to lift the blockade in order to raise money to support the war.
During the war the North refused to except diplomats from the south or recognize them as an independent nation in any way. Other countries in Europe began to considerate acknowledging the Confederate States as a nation and while no new diplomats were made several countries kept the counsels they already had in the south from before the war.
"You will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even impatience concerning the seceding States, their agents, or their people. But you will, on the contrary, all the while remember that those States are now, as they always heretofore have been, and, notwithstanding their temporary self-delusion, they must always continue to be, equal and honored members of this Federal Union, and that their citizens throughout all political misunderstandings and alienation, still are and always must be our kindred and countrymen." - U.S. Sectary of State William H. Steward to Britain, 1861
During the war the North refused to except diplomats from the south or recognize them as an independent nation in any way. Other countries in Europe began to considerate acknowledging the Confederate States as a nation and while no new diplomats were made several countries kept the counsels they already had in the south from before the war.
"You will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even impatience concerning the seceding States, their agents, or their people. But you will, on the contrary, all the while remember that those States are now, as they always heretofore have been, and, notwithstanding their temporary self-delusion, they must always continue to be, equal and honored members of this Federal Union, and that their citizens throughout all political misunderstandings and alienation, still are and always must be our kindred and countrymen." - U.S. Sectary of State William H. Steward to Britain, 1861