Quote:
Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek
Good point, but if France got involved, I think the North would've lost, and then the United States would be more like little countries/territories with totally different laws. Like Europe. I don't think the British would've gotten involved, because they were offering slaves their freedom if they fought on their side during the Revolutionary War, prior.
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I really think you underestimate the long standing issues between Britain and France, and how France helping the Confederacy could freak Britain out about Canada and France trying to take it back via Quebec (and also France helped us get free from Britain and become the US). It also goes the other way, lots of Quebec people are still not enthused about Britain taking over before the Revolutionary War, and they are French Canadian, not French Frenchian (thanks for the poutine!). I'll give you the Trent Affair incident, but once the Emancipation Proclamation was signed no European power would help the Confederacy because it was now a slavery issue, and Britain abolished slavery in 1833/34/38 (except a few places), with France and other European nations doing this before and after Britain did.
Granted we still had slavery after the Emancipation Proclamation, Native Americans were still slaves in places like California, and this shouldn't be surprising considering Native Americans weren't considered citizens until 1924 and still couldn't vote in some states after that. Makes the passport joke to leave the rez in
Smoke Signals even funnier when one is aware of that. Furthermore some Native Americans owned slaves as well, and tribes and individuals served for both the Union and the Confederacy.