“By late 1864, Davis was prepared to abolish slavery in order to gain European diplomatic recognition and thus save the Confederacy.”
Exactly as I had states. It was a last ditch effort to save a Confederacy that Davis realized was dying. Why didn’t he make the offer in 1862? Because Davis believed that the Confederacy had a good chance of surviving at the time.
By Nov 1864 all such thoughts were gone. It was a last ditch effort, just as enlisting 40,000 slaves for non combat duty, and a few month later allowing them to enlist in combat units. The dying gasp of diplomacy and social engineering to try and save the Confederacy.
Exactly as I had states. It was a last ditch effort to save a Confederacy that Davis realized was dying. Why didn’t he make the offer in 1862? Because Davis believed that the Confederacy had a good chance of surviving at the time. By Nov 1864 all such thoughts were gone. It was a last ditch effort, just as enlisting 40,000 slaves for non combat duty, and a few month later allowing them to enlist in combat units. The dying gasp of diplomacy and social engineering to try and save the Confederacy.
We have a difference of opinion then in how we characterize it. You say "last ditch". I point out it was only a year after the EP and the war was very much still raging.