Work in Progress.

[jgoodguy]

This is a work in progress that may never see the light of day.

To be titled
The Duncan Kenner Mission-Just the Facts, Ma'am Thread

The purpose is to collect the evidence about the Duncan Kenner Mission
with as little commentary as possible.

Comments appreciated later or by PM now, but emphasis on factual evidence rather than conjuncture is appreciated.

What was the Kenner Mission?

Kenner mission
Confederate history Written By: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

Duncan Farrar Kenner, a prosperous Louisiana sugar planter and Thoroughbred horse breeder, represented his state in the Confederate House of Representatives throughout the war. As the conflict dragged on, he became increasingly convinced that the South could not win without English and French recognition of the legitimacy of the Confederate government.

In 1864 Kenner convinced Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin to send a special commission to Europe, offering the abolition of slavery in exchange for recognition. The South was desperate, and Pres. Jefferson Davis reluctantly agreed to the plan. But Davis knew that such a proposal would inflame Southern opinion, and he decided to send Kenner alone to Europe without informing the Confederate Congress.

Bearing the title minister plenipotentiary and in disguise, Kenner made his way to New York and sailed for Europe on Feb. 11, 1865. The South was clearly defeated by the time he arrived, however, and the mission accomplished nothing.

The purpose of the Kenner Mission was to offer "the abolition of slavery in exchange for recognition" of the CSA. Kenner "sailed for Europe on Feb. 11, 1865". There was no CSA ship to carry Kenner nor CSA port to sail from. On April 2, the CSA government would be on a train out of Richmond.


Questions:

• How exactly would "English and French recognition of the legitimacy of the Confederate government." help the CSA win the war?
  
• What motivation is there for French and/English recognition when the CSA "was clearly defeated by the time he arrived",
• How dead does the Confederate Government know it is.
  
• There was considerable opposition to abolition of slavery in the South at the time of the Kenner Mission. .
  • There will be no time to remove political barriers to abolition.
• There were constitutional impediments to abolition of slavery.
  • There will be no time to remove legal barriers to abolition.

note. Dragnet used the phase "All we want are the facts, ma'am". never "just the facts, ma'am."

 

[jgoodguy]

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[jgoodguy]

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