<P> The papacy secured French backing to resist unification, fearing that giving up control of the Papal States would weaken the Church and allow the liberals to dominate conservative Catholics . The newly united Italy was recognized as the sixth great power . </P> <P> During the American Civil War (1861--1865), the Southern slave states attempted to secede from the Union and set up an independent country, the Confederate States of America . The North would not accept this affront of American nationalism, and fought to restore the Union . British and French aristocratic leaders personally disliked American republicanism and favoured the more aristocratic Confederacy . The South was also by far the chief source of cotton for European textile mills . The goal of the Confederacy was to obtain British and French intervention, that is, war against the Union . Confederates believed (with scant evidence) that "cotton is king"--that is, cotton was so essential to British and French industry that they would fight to get it . The Confederates did raise money in Europe, which they used to buy warships and munitions . However Britain had a large surplus of cotton in 1861; stringency did not come until 1862 . Most important was the dependence on grain from the U.S. North for a large portion of the British food supply, France would not intervene alone, and in any case was less interested in cotton than in securing its control of Mexico . The Confederacy would allow that if it secured its independence, but the Union never would approve . Washington made it clear that any official recognition of the Confederacy meant war with the U.S. </P> <P> Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert helped defuse a war scare in late 1861 . The British people generally favored the United States . What little cotton was available came from New York City, as the blockade by the U.S. Navy shut down 95% of Southern exports to Britain . In September 1862, during the Confederate invasion of Maryland, Britain (along with France) contemplated stepping in and negotiating a peace settlement, which could only mean war with the United States . But in the same month, US president Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation . Since support of the Confederacy now meant support for slavery, there was no longer any possibility of European intervention . </P> <P> Meanwhile, the British sold arms to both sides, built blockade runners for a lucrative trade with the Confederacy, and surreptitiously allowed warships to be built for the Confederacy . The warships caused a major diplomatic row that was resolved in the Alabama Claims in 1872, in the Americans' favor . </P>

What impact did imperialism have on relations among european nations