William H Seward and the Threat of War with France Over Mexico, 1861--1867
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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2003 Intelligence versus impulse: William H Seward and the threat of war with France over Mexico, 1861--1867 Albert Joseph Griffin .Jr University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Griffin, Albert Joseph Jr., "Intelligence versus impulse: William H Seward and the threat of war with France over Mexico, 1861--1867" (2003). Doctoral Dissertations. 126. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/126 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTELLIGENCE VERSUS IMPULSE: WILLIAM H. SEWARD AND THE THREAT OF WAR WITH FRANCE OVER MEXICO, 1861 - 1867 BY ALBERT JOSEPH GRIFFIN, JR. B.A. YALE UNIVERSITY, 1968 M.A. TUFTS UNIVERSITY, 1974 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History May, 2003 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3083731 Copyright 2003 by Griffin, Albert Joseph, Jr. Ail rights reserved. UMI UMI Microform 3083731 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Ail rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. All Rights Reserved ©May, 2003 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation D irect^ Kurk Dorsey, Assoeiafe Professor of History jj —* J. William Harris, Professor o f History Juna Rodriguez, Assistant Pro f History and Women’s Studies Marco Dorfsman, Msistant Professor oLSpamsh Alan Henrikson, Associate Professor of History, The Fletcher School o f Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION To my family, my students, and anyone who has willingly undertaken a significant challenge later in life. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although my name appears on the title page, this is a work to which many have contributed. To my dissertation advisor, classroom mentor, fellow basketball player, and bird lover, Professor Kurk Dorsey, go my most heartfelt thanks. There are very good reasons why he is a perennial favorite among both undergraduate and graduate students at the University of New Hampshire. Among the other members of my committee, Professor J. William Harris, UNH History Department Chair, has also been most generous with his time and wisdom. Professors Marco Dorfsman and Julia Rodriguez made certain that the bright light of Seward did not force Mexico into the shadows. Finally, Professor Alan K. Henrikson of the Fletcher School at Tufts, where I got my first introduction to diplomatic history, was kind enough to assist me with this project from both Medford, Massachusetts and Vienna, Austria, many years after he first had me in class. Dr. Michael J. Lee of UNH’s Teaching Excellence Program has been supportive throughout, as have been UNH Graduate School Deans Dr. Bruce L. Mallory and Dr. Harry J. Richards, who provided me assistance for summer research in Mexico. Dr. Gerald Collins and Team 1 were also instrumental in keeping me going. This dissertation would also not have come to fruition had it not been for the assistance of various librarians and curators of special collections. I would thus like to thank Sra. Elvira Morales Juarez, coordinator of Special Collections at the University of the Americas in Cholula Mexico, Mary Huth who supervises the Seward Collection at the University of Rochester, and Alicia Clarke, curator of the Sanford Museum in Sanford, Florida where Henry S. Sanford’s papers are housed. Regarding the latter, Professor Joseph “Andy” Fry of the University of Nevada was most generous in loaning me microfilm that he had used in preparing his book on Henry S. Sanford, one of Seward’s favorite diplomats. UNH reference librarian Peter Crosby has been unfailingly helpful, and those in UNH’s Inter-Library Loan Department never let me down, even though I V Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. rarely saw them. Walter V. Hickey of the National Archives in Waltham, Massachusetts was indispensable in helping me navigate through the maze of microfilmed diplomatic correspondence housed there. The UNH History professors for whom I worked as a teaching assistant provided valuable professional insights, as well as a needed sense of perspective at critical junctures, as did my fellow teaching assistants in Horton 327, especially Kathryn Askins, Pete Leavenworth, and Eric Kimball. To those in UNH’s Spanish Department, notably Lina Lee, Lori Hopkins, Marco Dorfsman, Mary Belford, and Elisa Stoykavich, I say muchisimas gracias for bringing my Spanish from the rudimentary to the minimally acceptable. Mike Wallsten, and Eric and Claudia Gueguen helped me understand the Spanish I was hearing in Mexico that was not always as elegant as that which I heard in UNH classrooms. I should also like to acknowledge the assistance of Professor William Taylor of Plymouth State College, now deceased, who helped me get back into academic history after a career in the U.S. Foreign Service. The entire dissertation is dedicated to my family, both immediate and far-flung, and my many friends. I’ve opted not to name anyone in particular for fear of committing the unpardonable gaffe of leaving someone out. Without their collective encouragement and support, this dissertation, and just about everything else, would not have been possible. May they share in whatever credit may be forthcoming, but if any errors remain herein, they are mine alone. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION p. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS p. v TABLE OF CONTENTS p.vii CHRONOLOGY p. ix ABSTRACT: p.xiii INTRODUCTION: p. 1 CHAPTER ONE: INSURMOUNTABLE EMBARRASSMENT p. 19 CHAPTER TWO: MATIAS ROMERO - JUAREZ’S MAN IN WASHINGTON p. 51 CHAPTER THREE: PARTISANSHIP IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS p. 79 CHAPTER FOUR: SEWARD OUTFOXES GRANT AND ROMERO p. 102 CHAPTER FIVE: SEWARD AND MAXIMILIAN’S EXECUTION p. 130 CONCLUSION: COTTON A SHADE BETTER p. 167 APPENDIX I: SEWARD’S APRIL 1,1861 MEMO p. 191 APPENDIX II: PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S REPLY p. 193 APPENDIX III: CONVENTION OF LONDON, OCTOBER 10,1861 p. 195 APPENDIX IV: TREATY OF MIRAMAR, APRIL 10,1864 p. 198 APPENDIX V: MAPS: OVERVIEW OF MEXICO p. 202 GUADALUPE-HID ALGO/GADSDEN PURCHASE p. 203 ROUTE OF MEXICO’S NOMADIC REPUBLIC p. 204 SHERMAN/CAMPBELL MISSION, 1866 p. 205 SEWARD’S TRIP TO MEXICO, 1869-1870 p. 206 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY p. 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY p. 224 viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHRONOLOGY 5/16/1801 William Henry Seward bom in Florida, New York 3/21/1806 Benito Juarez bom in San Paulo Guelatao, Oaxaca 1808 Louis Napoleon, future Napoleon HI bom in Paris 1837 Matias Romero bom in Oaxaca, Oaxaca 1846-1848 Mexican-American War 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848 Louis Napoleon elected President of French Republic 12/2/1851 Louis Napoleon declares himself Napoleon in, ends French Republic and begins Second Empire 1849-1861 Seward’s term as U.S. Senator from New York 12/24/1859 Matias Romero arrives in Washington, D.C. as Secretary to the Mexican Legation 1858-1861 War of the Reform in Mexico 1/1861 Juarez re-entered Mexico City as victor in War of the Reform; declared moratorium on Mexican debt-payments to foreigners 3/1861-3/1869 Seward serves as U.S. Secretary of State 3/4/1861 Lincoln inaugurated; among appointees: Charles Francis Adams, Minister to London, William Dayton, Minister to Paris, Thomas Corwin, Minister to Mexico, John L. Motley Minister to Vienna 1861-1865 Civil War in the United States 10/31/1861 Convention of London between Great Britain, France, and Spain 12/1861-2/1862 Arrival of European troops in Mexico 4/9-15/1862 Spanish and British forces leave Mexico after Orizaba meeting ix Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.