An American diplomat and politician, Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886) was minister to England during the Civil War. By helping to preserve the neutrality of the British, he frustrated Confederate hopes for foreign aid and intervention in the war.

Charles Francis Adams was born in Boston on Aug. 18, 1807. He spent 8 of his first 10 years in Europe, where his father, John Quincy Adams, was a diplomat. After graduating from Harvard in 1825, the young Adams studied law and began to practice 4 years later. His deep interest in public affairs led him into political activity, and he served several terms in the Massachusetts Legislature during the 1840s. Never an abolitionist, although he believed slavery to be wrong, Adams worked with the Conscience Whigs and Free Soil party to prevent slavery's geographical extension. In 1848 he was the vice-presidential candidate of the Free Soilers. He became a Republican in the mid-fifties and was elected...