‘The United States Have a Vote in Framing the Maritime Law of this Age’ — The Cass Memorandum and Bremen’s Campaign for the Marcy Amendment

Abstract

While the Marcy proposal discussed in Chapter 4 has not received much scholarly attention, some historians at least acknowledged its existence. The same cannot be said for the memorandum on maritime law sent by Marcy’s successor as Secretary of State, Lewis Cass, in 1859. However, it was actually much more successful in influencing British thinking on maritime law. Crucially, it ruled out any attempt to undermine the new rights of neutrals by extending the contraband list. The memorandum also inspired a remarkable campaign to revive the Marcy Amendment started by citizens of the tiny German city-state of Bremen, which would have global implications and facilitate attempts by smaller powers to isolate Britain as the sole opponent to maritime reform.¹ Their use of the European congress as an instrument to influence great powers was innovative and — though ultimately unsuccessful — points towards an alternative development of this element of European politics that seemed entirely possible at the time and was supported by most members of what is now called ‘international civil society’. However, the most important theme of this chapter will be the constant and often decisive influence of the USA.