Manchester and the American Civil War

Many Mancunians are familiar with the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the city centre, but wonder what connection it has to the city. This talk explored the effects which the American Civil War had on Manchester, a city which was both a long-standing home of the abolitionist movement and a major market for slave-grown cotton from the American South. Topics  covered included the visits of American ex-slaves, such as Frederick Douglass, to Manchester, the role of the city’s working people in the opposition to slavery, the extent to which the city’s massive growth in the first half of the nineteenth century stemmed from trade with the United States, and the experience of the “cotton famine” during the Civil War, which caused great suffering among local workers, yet inspired them to support President Lincoln’s struggle to end slavery.

Talk by Natalie Zacek from The University of Manchester.

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