International pressure Flashcards
Topic sentence
Some historians such as Susan Mary Grant argue that international pressure was the most important reason for forcing Lincoln into passing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Evidence - background
While the Union refused to recognise that the abolition of slavery was a war aim, “It was unclear to many British observers what, precisely, the North was fighting for.” (GRANT). Many Brits saw the continuation of slavery problematic, the Slave trade was abolished in Britain on 25th March 1807 showing that they had come to the realisation of the inhumane nature of enslaving people long before the American Civil war. As a result, Lincoln was becoming increasingly aware that he was going to have to take a firm stance against Slavery in order to maintain support from Britain and prevent them from offering any support from the Confederacy. Additionally, if Lincoln was to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, the Southern economy, and thus their relations with foreign powers, would collapse.
Evidence - Southern economy
Up until the 1860s, Southern economy was completely based on a system of slavery, the South led the world cotton exports, being responsible for two thirds of the worlds cotton supply. Emancipation of slaves would mean the end to this fast paced production, which was vital to maintaining Southern economy and Lincoln was well aware of this. He believed that issuing the Emancipation Proclamation would weaken Southern war effort as it would prevent them from accessing support from foreign powers, and therefore felt complied to act on the issue. Grant argues, that “Slavery was a barrier to the recognition of the Confederacy that the South craved”, showing that the existence of Slavery in the South lost them support from other countries.
Counter analysis
However, despite Britain abolishing the Slave trade in 1807, cotton manufactures in Britain continued to rely on imports of raw cotton from the labour of enslaved people in Southern America, weakening the argument that Britain was completely against the existence of slavery.
Evaluation
To evaluate, International pressure is an important factor to consider as to why Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln knew that pressure was being put on him by foreign powers to make a decision about the slavery issue and also knew that abolishing slavery would hugely impact the South’s relations with other nations as cotton was their dominant economic aspect. This is evidenced through the South only producing 10% of manufactured output in 1860. Susan Mary Grant argues that the existence of slavery was negatively impacting the diplomatic relations between America and Britain in 1862, pressuring Lincoln to act on the issue.
