Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post-Civil War World by Adrian Brettle

Abstract

Reviewed by: Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post-Civil War World by Adrian Brettle Daniel J. Burge (bio) Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post-Civil War World. By Adrian Brettle. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2020. Pp. xi, 330. $45.00 cloth; $45.00 ebook) Over the last fifty years, historians of U.S. empire have frequently examined the southern dream of empire. Robert E. May, John McCardell, Walter Johnson, and Matthew Karp have all traced and analyzed how prominent southerners sought to use the power of the U.S. government to reinforce, and often expand, the institution of slavery. These studies, however, typically end with the outbreak of the Civil War. Adrian Brettle's Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post-Civil War World is thus a welcome contribution to studies of U.S. empire, as it extends the analysis of southern empire into the ensuing decade. Brettle shows that southerners did not abandon the expansive plans they advocated for in the 1850s. Instead, "patriotic Confederates remained convinced virtually to the end of the Civil War that their nation would survive to implement the progressive commercial, territorial, diplomatic, and racial programs they envisioned and debated during the conflict" (p. 1). Brettle crafts his argument by moving chronologically through the Civil War in six crisply written chapters. After an introduction that explains his major points, Brettle transitions into an opening chapter that examines Confederate planning before the outbreak of the Civil War. In this chapter, Brettle demonstrates that Confederates envisioned a powerful Confederacy where "slavery and territorial expansion would be the national priorities . . . with the aim of increasing production and exports of staple crops" (p. 41). This chapter sets up his ensuing evaluation of how Confederate planning evolved over the course of the conflict. In each chapter, Brettle relies upon a variety of voices, ranging from politicians, to editors, to economic boosters. His broad examination of sources enables him to illustrate the diversity of opinions that existed within the Confederacy (pp. 104–07). Brettle's chronological focus also allows him to craft his most original argument: Confederate leaders did not abandon their plans [End Page 84] for empire. "By the end of 1862," Brettle noted in his third chapter, "the military disasters of the late winter and spring seemed a distant memory to planners of the new nation . . . Confederate optimists confidently assumed they had made progress toward independence and then an expansive, prosperous future" (p. 109). Defeats in the Southwest and the French occupation of Mexico did alter Confederate plans, but they did not cause Confederate planners to retreat into a defensive shell. Leaders optimistically believed they could wait until after the war to recapture these regions. Wending his way through the Civil War, Brettle shows that Confederates remained hopeful about the future of their nation. To be slightly more specific, Brettle proves Confederate leaders remained optimistic about the survival and future growth of the Confederacy. If there is one area where historians can build upon Brettle's conclusions it is on the popular reception of these visions of empire. Certainly, the men whose names pepper the pages of Colossal Ambitions believed and hoped that the Confederacy would become a dominant, slaveholding empire. Quotes from Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens, James D. B. De Bow, William H. Trescot, and Henry Hotze illustrate this optimism. But did citizens within the Confederacy share this vision of empire? Certainly, understanding the views that Confederate planners held is important, but future historians will need to uncover how deeply these visions of empire permeated the Confederacy. In all, Brettle's Colossal Ambitions is an impressive volume. Scholars have analyzed how Confederates conducted their foreign policy, detailing in particular the Confederate attempt to secure diplomatic recognition from Great Britain and France. In doing so, however, they have often overlooked, or downplayed, how truly ambitious Confederate leaders remained. Confederate planners not only expected to maintain their independence, but they also envisioned the Confederacy would rise to become the dominant power on the continent, a nation that was militarily, economically, and territorially superior to the United States. Confederate leaders did not expect to [End Page 85] lose the Civil War and only their defeat ensured that their...