By Steven J. Grisafi, PhD.
When the Southern Confederacy sought to secede from the Union of the United States, Otto von Bismarck urged his fellow Europeans not to allow the North to prevent the secession of the Confederacy. Although the British abolished slavery within their dominions in 1833, they provided some assistance to the Confederacy, mostly in the form of helping to run the Union”s blockade of southern seaports. Doing so was solely the result of the British having determined that it was in their best interest to maintain their cotton trade with the southern states. Nor was Bismarck”s admonition to his fellow Europeans motivated by any support for slavery. Instead, it was what he deemed to be in the best interest of the European peoples to keep America divided. President Lincoln warned the American people that a house divided against itself cannot stand. While having devastating consequences for the South, the North succeeded in preventing the secession of the Confederacy, and Lincoln prevailed. But so has Bismarck. America is no less divided today than it was in 1861. However, today, that division is demographic, not geographic, which makes the division even more onerous.