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Manifest Dominion: The British Empire and the Crises of the Americas in the 1860s.

Huzzey, Richard

Authors



Contributors

Don H. Doyle
Editor

Abstract

This chapter analyses how Britons responded to the febrile political and social crises of the Americas in the 1860s. Although the American Civil War created a particular challenge – and great confusion – to observers in the United Kingdom, that conflict was one of a wider range of concerns in balancing the demands of rival imperial and new post-colonial powers to preserve British influence. Considering opinions expressed travel writing and political commentary, the chapter argues that Britons struggled to balance competing interests – in economic affairs, in geopolitical strategy, in imperial authority, and in suppression of the slave trade – to maintain a manifestly uncertain dominion over the Americas. Touching on British concerns stretching from the Mosquito Coast to the Pacific north--west, the chapter suggests that crises in the Americas illuminated diverse priorities and anxieties.

Citation

Huzzey, R. (2017). Manifest Dominion: The British Empire and the Crises of the Americas in the 1860s. In D. H. Doyle (Ed.), American Civil Wars: The United States, Latin America, Europe, and the Crisis of the 1860s (82-106). The University of North Carolina Press. https://doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631097.003.0005

Online Publication Date Feb 13, 2017
Publication Date 2017-02
Deposit Date Sep 15, 2016
Publisher The University of North Carolina Press
Pages 82-106
Series Title Civil War America
Book Title American Civil Wars: The United States, Latin America, Europe, and the Crisis of the 1860s.
Chapter Number 4
ISBN 9781469631097
DOI https://doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631097.003.0005
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1641748
Contract Date Sep 15, 2016