The Federal Government’s Naval Blockade Policy During American Civil War

The naval blockade is one of the most common ways of combat since the16thin the warconflict. In order to regulate the behavior of the sea war and maintain the neutral rights, theregradually forming the recognized program of naval blockade and belligerent principles ofcapturing vessels during the practices of international law. These principles were capturing theblockade running enemy and neutral vessels.American as a neutral strongly maintained the neutral rights and opposed paper blockadeand the principle of continuous voyage in all previous sea wars before the Civil War.American even declared the war on British to maintain neutral rights. But the Americanbecame the belligerency and changed his traditional position on the blockade to the south inthe American Civil War. In order to maintain the blockade and destroy the Southern trade, theFederal Government expanded the scope of contraband、seized the vessels to the south、practiced the principle of continuous voyage、invaded the territorial waters and captured andill-treated the foreign citizens of the ships. These behaviors caused a series of diplomacycrisis with British. In order to prevent the south to contact with the British, the federalgovernment violated the program of international laws and captured the southern envoys ofthe Trent. The two countries once went to the brink of war. Lately, the federal governmentcaptured the British vessels to the neutral ports and judged them as the continuous voyage.The measures violated the free trade rights.The federal government’s naval blockade played an important role in destroying thesouth economy and speeding the process of the war. The federal government solved thediplomatic crisis by international law and made contribution to win the wars having an effecton the practice of international law.