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The Trent Affair: The American Civil War

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The Trent affair was an affair that caused the United States and Great Britain to get very close to war during the first year of the American civil war. Even though war seemed very possible America and Britain avoided it and through that gained more confidence with each other and in each other. The confederate President, Jefferson Davis, sent James Mason of Virginia as minister to Britain and John Slidell of Louisiana to minister to France, seeking support against the north. Trying to avoid the union blockade, the southerners reached Cuba, where they boarded a british mail steamer, the Trent for passage across the Atlantic ocean. On November 8, 1861, captain James of the USS San Jacinto halted the Trent 300 miles east of Havana with two shots across …show more content…
Luckily Great Britain did not take too much offence from this act which America had no right to act out. The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Palmerston, did not want to react harshly instead he had come to the agreement to just receive the prisoners back and an apology included. To obey Great Britain's demands where hard for the United States because the popularity in the north of Wilkes' action. Meanwhile considering this agreement Lincoln and the Secretary of State paused to deal with the prisoners while waiting for a reply from Great Britain. After many meetings with his cabinet Lincoln decided on a policy named "One war at a time" and since they had just started the American civil war they took a step back against Great Britain which I believe was a great idea. America wanted a way to give Great Britain what they wanted but also seem firm and stay popular so they came to the agreement that they were just going to free the prisoners and announce that Great Britain had adopted the American conception of neutral rights over which the two nations had fought a war in 1812. On January 1, 1862, Mason and Slidell were

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