<P> In 1846 after an intense political debate in which the expansionist Democrats prevailed over the Whigs, the U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas . Mexico never recognized that Texas had achieved independence and promised war should the U.S. annex it . President James K. Polk peacefully resolved a border dispute with Britain regarding Oregon, then sent U.S. Army patrols into the disputed area of Texas . That triggered the Mexican--American War, which the Americans won easily . As a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 the U.S. acquired territory that included California, Arizona and New Mexico, and the Hispanic residents there were given full U.S. citizenship . </P> <P> Every nation was officially neutral throughout the American Civil War, and none recognized the Confederacy . That marked a major diplomatic achievement for Secretary Seward and the Lincoln Administration . France, under Napoleon III, had invaded Mexico and installed a puppet regime; it hoped to negate American influence . France therefore encouraged Britain in a policy of mediation suggesting that both would recognize the Confederacy . Lincoln repeatedly warned that meant war . The British textile industry depended on cotton from the South, but it had stocks to keep the mills operating for a year and in any case the industrialists and workers carried little weight in British politics . Knowing a war would cut off vital shipments of American food, wreak havoc on the British merchant fleet, and cause the immediate loss of Canada, Britain, with its powerful Royal Navy, refused to go along with French schemes . </P> <P> Lincoln's foreign policy was deficient in 1861 in terms of appealing to European public opinion . Diplomats had to explain that United States was not committed to the ending of slavery, but instead they repeated legalistic arguments about the unconstitutionality of secession . Confederate spokesman, on the other hand, were much more successful by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for liberty, their commitment to free trade, and the essential role of cotton in the European economy . In addition, the European aristocracy (the dominant factor in every major country) was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the and American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed . European government leaders welcomed the fragmentation of the ascendant American Republic ." </P> <P> Elite opinion in Britain tended to favor the Confederacy, while public opinion tended to favor the United States . Large scale trade continued in both directions with the United States, with the Americans shipping grain to Britain while Britain sent manufactured items and munitions . Immigration continued into the United States . British trade with the Confederacy was limited, with a trickle of cotton going to Britain and some munitions slipped in by numerous small blockade runners . The Confederate strategy for securing independence was largely based on the hope of military intervention by Britain and France, but Confederate diplomacy proved inept . With the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, it became a war against slavery that most British supported . </P>

Which issue in the united states is the focus of this cartoon