I was very careful to include two reasons....

"because of his minority status in the election AND the inability to enforce the laws and protect the citizens"

because alone I would have no argument.

The seceeding states were under law and order, not Lincoln's law and order, but the law and order of the Confederacy. I do not believe Confederate states were looked upon by Europe as a lawless rabble in revolution. They legally could have been recognized on that point alone.

What kept England and France from recognizing the South was the economic cost would not justify a good cotton price. The Union had the shipping and grain they needed and they could not jeopardize a war which would freeze their investments in the American market.

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David Upton