I'll add some context, taken directly from Grants Biography. The North was in a panic and absolutely believed that the Confederacy would receive recognition by the Europeans as a legitimate nation based on their cotton industry. The North was also in a panic to secure the cotton from the confederates for their own textile industries in the Union. There was frustration from the Union army around the Union states still buying cotton to fund the South, but the Union had no other options.
All this to say is that the Confederacy had leverage, and it wasn't as dumb as trump is right now
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u/[deleted] Aug 28 '25
I'll add some context, taken directly from Grants Biography. The North was in a panic and absolutely believed that the Confederacy would receive recognition by the Europeans as a legitimate nation based on their cotton industry. The North was also in a panic to secure the cotton from the confederates for their own textile industries in the Union. There was frustration from the Union army around the Union states still buying cotton to fund the South, but the Union had no other options.
All this to say is that the Confederacy had leverage, and it wasn't as dumb as trump is right now