Front Porch: The South in the World

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Front Porch: The South in the World

by Harry L. Watson
Southern Cultures, Vol. 4, No. 4: The South in the World

"The Confederate States of America once pinned its hopes on foreign recognition. Those were the days of 'cotton diplomacy,' when southern exports were deemed essential to the British economy, and Confederate leaders proudly boasted that the industrial nations of Europe could never survive without the South."

The Confederate States of America once pinned its hopes on foreign recognition. Those were the days of “cotton diplomacy,” when southern exports were deemed essential to the British economy, and Confederate leaders proudly boasted that the industrial nations of Europe could never survive without the South. “You dare not make war on cotton,” vaunted James Henry Hammond, senator from South Carolina. “No power on earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king.”

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