John Slidell
John Slidell, b. New York City, 1793, d. July 29, 1871, was an American politician and diplomat.
JUST about the only person on this site that DIDN'T go to West Point or DIDN'T serve in the Mexican War. This lovely man went to Columbia Colege, and graduated in 1819. Soon after he moved to New Orleans, where he practiced law. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. congressman from 1843 to 1845, and senator from 1853 to 1861. Mexico's refusal to receive him as President James K. Polk's minister helped precipitate the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846. Slidell also played an influential role during James Buchanan's presidency. Appointed in 1861, Confederate envoy to Paris during the Civil War, Slidell became involved in the Trent Affair when his Europe-bound ship was seized by U.S. seamen. In January 1862 he arrived in Paris, where he received much sympathy from Napoleon III but did not obtain recognition of the Confederacy. He remained in Europe after the war.
Bibliography: Sears, Louis M., John Slidell (1925); Wilson, Beckles, John Slidell and the Confederates in Paris, 1862-65 (1932; repr. 1970).