Cotton Diplomacy

Since Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy, the Union figured if it went down, the Confederacy would follow.

Even though the North had more people and more factories, the South was fighting for a cause.

They felt as though they were fighting for their freedom to live their way of life, just like the patriots during the Revolution.



Another aspect in which the South was better than the North was in its military leaders. You may have heard of a guy named Robert E. Lee, he was a pretty big deal.

The Confederacy also thought they had a pretty big thing with their cotton, after all, it is the fabric of our lives. They figured since they exported a lot of it to England and France, those countries would recognize the Confederate States of America as an independent nation and help them out.


This was known as Cotton Diplomacy and they were sure it would work.

But, of course, it didn't.

Great Britain and France didn't recognize the Confederate States of America as independent. This made the south mad, so they refused to export their cotton.




They thought this was a great plan and rubbed their hands together in an evil way cackling, waiting for Great Britain and France to crawl back and beg for their cotton.



Once again, this didn't work. The British and French were appalled by the "blackmail" attempt so they did their cotton business with Egypt.



Cotton Diplomacy was a failure.