Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 54

The Trent Affair of late 1861 threatened war with Great Britain.

The U. S. Navy illegally intercepted a British merchant ship the Trent on the high seas and seized two Confederate envoys ; Britain protested vehemently while the U. S. cheered.

Lincoln resolved the issue by releasing the two men and war was successfully averted with Britain.

Lincoln's foreign policy approach had been initially hands off, due to his inexperience ; he left most diplomacy appointments and other foreign policy matters to his Secretary of State, William Seward.

Seward's initial reaction to the Trent affair, however, was too bellicose, so Lincoln also turned to Senator Charles Sumner, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an expert in British diplomacy.