The often overlooked global history of how the Confederacy lost its attempt at nationhood.
In 1861, supporters of slavery seceded from the United States, established the Confederacy, and prepared to join the international community as a sovereign nation. In the book The First Pariah State, Robert Bonner narrates the story of how a transatlantic public campaign shattered the Confederates' hopes, labeling their rebellion as immoral and a global threat.
The international campaign against the Confederacy was based on existing anti-slavery themes but went far beyond them. Makeshift accusations circulated the most explosive words of the secessionists worldwide. The Union and its foreign allies condemned the Confederate naval forces for disrupting maritime trade, breaking civilized rules, and preparing to resume the African slave trade. Abraham Lincoln and Senator Charles Sumner sought to turn rhetorical attacks and maritime concerns into new doctrines of international law, designed to oppose regimes deemed illegal. Modern perspectives within the Union, including Black restorationists, collaborated with European supporters to hinder the South's naval expansion, fund the war effort, and pursue diplomatic recognition.
Global concerns about the Confederates' rebellion waned after the US victory, and their marginalization in the 1860s left few permanent marks in international law or transatlantic memory. In fact, over the next century and a half, the mythology of the 'Lost Causes' favoring the Confederacy proved to be as powerful abroad as it was within the restored United States.
