At the war’s outset, what is now Canada was comprised of the British colonies of Canada West and Canada East (now Ontario and Québec) and the Maritime colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Britain declared itself neutral; that is, it would support neither the Union nor the Confederacy. As a result, Canada and the Maritimes were also neutral.
Despite the official stance, the majority of Canadian and Maritime newspapers sympathized with the South, not because they supported slavery, but because they saw the Confederacy as a small power defying a distant, larger one that was not protecting its interests. Many Canadians and Maritimers opposed Lincoln because he said the war was not about freeing slaves but was about reuniting his country or, as he phrased it, preserving the union. Many Canadian and Maritime business people sold weapons and offered other support to both sides.
