HEADNOTE

The following two entries present a published correspondence between the workers of Manchester, England, and the then-sitting U.S. President during the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865). Published in the Scottish newspaper Dundee Advertiser, Lincoln’s letter, sent on January 19, 1863, was a reply to the Manchester workers’ earlier address to Lincoln, from December 31, 1862 (just before the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, an order that freed enslaved persons in the Confederacy.)

In their address, published in the Scottish newspaper The Scotsman, the Manchester workers praise Lincoln for his decision to make the abolition of slavery the chief aim of the Civil War. They emphasize a unique kinship between Britain and the US that highlights the interlinked history between the two countries. Britain had abolished slavery about thirty years prior, so the Manchester workers recognize a kinship that casts America’s abolition efforts as extensions of British emancipation. Besides pro-abolition British workers in Manchester, the British voice against slavery included notable writers (such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Charles Dickens) and more now-obscure ones, such as the Scottish poet Janet Hamilton and English novelist Elizabeth Arshurst Biggs (Hughes, “Silent”).

The address is not fully representative of British sentiment on the American Civil War. Pro-Union Manchester workers stood at odds with pro-Confederacy British shipping companies and factory management. Experiencing injustice at the hands of factory owners and the British government (the abusive Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834), many British workers in the 1860s identified with the South’s enslaved people, suffering injustice at the hands of enslavers (Heartfield).

The cheerful tone with which the workers write to Lincoln belies the three years of suffering textile workers throughout England and Europe endured in connection with the US war. Lincoln’s embargo on Southern cotton having gone into effect in July 1861, cotton mills throughout the industrial region of Lancashire lay dormant. Part of the Union’s Anaconda war plan, the cotton blockade attacked “the money, the credit, the very lifeblood” of the states in secession (O’Connor, “Lincoln”). Despite his decision being well-intentioned, Lincoln encountered scattered opposition from the Union (in parts of New England, the Northwest, and the border states) as well as England and France most notably (O’Connor, “Lincoln”). Britain imported “three-quarters to five-sixths of her cotton supply from the South” (O’Connor, “Lincoln”). Manchester, a city within Lancashire and the focal point of England’s cotton industry, was severely impacted. Thousands of textile workers faced unemployment, suffering through a harsh winter with little to no food, heat, or housing. Factory owners and merchants all experienced losses in revenue. Thus, the workers experienced backlash for their support of the embargo similar to the resistance toward Lincoln’s wartime policies. Back in the US, Northern textile mills that annually imported more than three hundred fifty million pounds of Southern cotton resented the Union’s military move (O’Connor, “Lincoln”). Cast as enemies of the cotton industry, both the Manchester workers and Lincoln became poignantly connected in the fight for emancipation.

Upon discovering that the Civil War would be no “short war,” Britain considered siding with the Confederacy due to its unmitigated reliance on Southern cotton (O’Connor, “Lincoln”). Indeed, the Confederacy engaged in King Cotton Diplomacy, a term for the propaganda of the Confederacy that sought to enlist European nations in an effort to protect a vital cotton industry (O’Connor, “Lincoln”; Heartfield, “British”). Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (September 1862) combatted this political move: it asserted the abolition of slavery as the Union’s main war aim. In the context of the delivery of this document, which set the date for the emancipation of enslaved persons for January 1st, 1863, the Manchester workers showed their solidarity with Lincoln: ‘Our interests, moreover, are identified with yours. We are truly one people, though locally separate’ (Address).

In Lincoln’s reply to the Manchester workers, he acknowledges the difficulty with which he had made the decision of national emancipation; he credits the support of the workers with renewing his sense of having acted in the nation’s best interest. Lincoln’s expression of gratitude was not merely rhetorical—the Union shipped provisions to the Manchester workers, although a meager amount, in acknowledgment of the workers’ plight (Heartfield, “British”). Lincoln goes on to explain the reason behind the Emancipation Proclamation and to continue to acknowledge the daily sacrifices the workers have made in support of a Union victory. Such a correspondence demonstrates the way a call for justice can echo across the world and be replied to with an alacrity of heart.

Editorial work on this entry by Emma Dickey

Transatlantic Exchange on Abolition as the Union’s Newly Declared War Aim (1862-63)

Working Men of Manchester England

Address from the Working Men of Manchester England to President Lincoln (1862)

Working Men of Manchester,¹Due to its reputation for processing the most cotton, the city in the Lancashire region of Britain was penned “The workshop of the world” and “Cottonopolis.” Address from the Working Men of Manchester England to President Lincoln (1862)

The following is the address from the working men of Manchester, to President Lincoln, adopted at the crowded meeting²The meeting of the Manchester workers was held at the Manchester Free Trade Hall on December 31, 1862. Word of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation had already reached England when Lincoln issued the document in September 1862. on Wednesday evening:–

To his Excellency Abraham Lincoln. President of the United States of America.

As citizens of Manchester, assembled at the Free Trade Hall, we beg to express our internal sentiments towards you and your country. We rejoice in your greatness, as an outgrowth of England, whose blood and language you share, whose orderly and legal freedom you have applied to new circumstances,³Britain passed the Abolition Act of 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire. The Manchester workers perceive the Union as following in Britain’s footsteps. over a region immeasurably greater than our own. We honour your Free States, as a singularly happy abode for the working millions, where industry is honoured. One thing has, in the past, lessened our sympathy with your country, and our confidence in it–we mean, the ascendancy of politicians,⁴Although Lincoln’s party, the nascent Republican Party, was not fully abolitionist in nature, it opposed the Democratic Party in its policy on slavery in the territories. Southern Democrats (notable figures included Andrew Butler, John C. Calhoun, Preston Brooks, Jefferson Davis, John C. Breckinridge) were pro-slavery, while Northern Democrats (led by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois) favored popular sovereignty on slavery in the territories. Bloody Kansas exposed the failure of popular sovereignty. who not merely maintained negro slavery, but desired to extend and root it more firmly. Since we have discerned, however, that the victory of the Free North in the war which has so sorely distressed us, as well as afflicted you, will strike off the fetters of the slave,⁵The Preliminary Proclamation stated that if the rebellious states of the Confederacy were not established back into the Union by January 1st, 1863, all slaves within the Confederacy would be set free. Emancipation did not apply to slaves in the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia (after 1863) where slavery was still intact. The Emancipation Proclamation was preceded by the Second Confiscation Act of July 1862, which instantly freed the slaves of re-captured Confederate land. you have attracted our warm and earnest sympathy.⁶The Manchester workers show solidarity with President Lincoln due to the acknowledgement that the embargo weakens the Confederacy and the institution of slavery. Beginning in April 1861, President Lincoln had issued an embargo on Southern cotton, successfully blocking 95% of Southern cotton exports. Part of the greater Anaconda Plan, Lincoln intended to deplete the Confederacy of its main source of income and main source of war financing. The embargo was lifted in 1865. We joyfully honour you, as the President, and the Congress with you, for many decisive steps towards practically exemplifying your belief in the words of your great founders, “All men are created free and equal.” You have procured the liberation of the slaves in the district around Washington,⁷Emancipation of slaves in Washington, D.C. occurred on April 16, 1862, which freed 3,000 slaves. Lincoln’s decision to emancipate slaves in the capitol city shows his anti-slavery stance, although in the initial stages of the Civil War he questioned his constitutional ability to declare emancipation throughout the entire country and strove to preserve the Union at the expense of preserving slavery. and thereby made the centre of your Federation visibly free. You have enforced the laws against the slave trade,⁸The U.S. Government set the date of the end of the slave trade to occur on January 1st, 1808. and kept up your fleet against it, even while every ship was wanted for service in your terrible war. You have nobly decided to receive ambassadors from the negro republics of Hayti and Liberia,⁹President Lincoln met with the ambassadors of Haiti and Liberia to create re-settlement plans for African Americans. However, the campaign proved disastrous as conditions in the Black colonized countries were unable to provide for the re-settled African Americans. On the migration journey, many Blacks died of smallpox. A year later an American ship arrived to bring the emigrants back. Black abolitionists did not support this manner of relieving racial tensions with an influx of freed blacks sweeping into Northern cities and increasing competition over employment and housing. Frederick Douglass, a prominent ex-slave and abolitionist, stated: “We live here–have lived here–have a right to live here, and mean to live here.” thus for ever renouncing that unworthy prejudice which refuses the rights of humanity to men and women on account of their colour. In order more effectually to stop the slave trade, you have made with our Queen a treaty,¹⁰The stipulation that Confederate ships would receive the same treatment for Britain as the Union ships. The treaty declared the Confederacy as a belligerent in the view of a neutral Britain. Confederate ships were allowed to come to port to re-fuel and trade, but not to purchase arms or conduct military operations. The treaty made any British attempt to aid the Confederacy illegal; government investigation could be conducted into suspicious activity. The Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves free in the territories. which your Senate has ratified, for the right of mutual search. Your Congress has decreed freedom as the law for ever, in the vast unoccupied or half settled territories,¹¹The Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves free in the territories. which are directly subject to its legislative power. It has offered pecuniary aid to all States which will enact emancipation locally,¹²The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation provided compensated emancipation (i.e., freeing slaves in return for money) to all Confederate states that would return to the Union. However, the offer was dismissed. and has forbidden your Generals to restore fugitive slaves who seek their protection.¹³The Second Confiscation Act of July 1862 instantly freed the slaves of re-captured Confederate land and the slaves who sought asylum among the Union troops. You have entreated slave masters to accept these moderate offers; after long and patient waiting, you, as Commander in Chief of the army, have appointed tomorrow the 1^st of January 1863¹⁴The date when the Emancipation Proclamation would go into effect. All slaves within the Confederacy would be set free. as the day of unconditional freedom for the slaves of the Rebel States. Heartily do we congratulate you and your country on this humane and righteous course. We assume that you cannot now stop short of a complete uprooting of slavery. It would not become us to dictate any details, but there are broad principles of humanity which must guide you. If complete emancipation in some States be deferred, though only to a predetermined day, still, in the interval, human beings should not be counted chattels. Women must have the rights of chastity—men the rights of husbands—masters the liberty of manumission.¹⁵Emancipation. Justice demands for the black, no less than for the white, the protection of law—that his voice be heard in your courts. Nor must any such abomination be tolerated as slave-breeding States and a slave market—if you are to earn the high reward of all your sacrifices in the approval of the universal brotherhood and of the Divine Father.¹⁶Similarly, Lincoln attributes emancipation to something “God must forever bless” in his December 1862 Congressional speech. It is for your free country to decide whether anything but immediate and total emancipation can secure the most indispensable rights of humanity against the inveterate wickedness of local laws and local executives. We implore you, for your own honour and wealth, not to faint in your providential mission. While your enthusiasm is aflame, and the tide of events turns high, let the work be finished effectually. Leave no root of bitterness to spring up and work fresh misery to your children. It is a mighty task, indeed, to reorganize the industry,¹⁷Here the Manchester workers are foreshadowing the difficulties that will face the Reconstruction era, such as restrictions on Black, racial violence (NYC Draft Riot of 1863), and the system of sharecropping. not only of four millions of the coloured race, but of five millions of whites. Nevertheless, the vast progress which you have made in the short space of twenty months, fills us with hope that every stain on your freedom will shortly be removed, and that the erasure of that foul blot upon civilization and Christianity—chattel-slavery—during your Presidency, will cause the name of Abraham Lincoln to be honoured and revered by posterity. We are certain that such a glorious consummation will cement Great Britain to the United States in close and enduring regards.¹⁸Indeed, the declaration of abolition as the Union’s war aim turned Britain and other European countries from the Confederacy. Our interests, moreover, are identified with yours. We are truly one people, though locally separate. And, if you have any ill-wishers here, be assured they are chiefly those who oppose liberty at home, and that they will be powerless to stir up quarrels between us, from the very day in which your country becomes, undeniably, and without exception, the home of the free. Accept our high admiration of your firmness in upholding the proclamation of freedom.

Response to the Address

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Letter from President Lincoln to the Working-Men of Manchester (1863)

The American Minister in London, Mr. Adams,¹⁹Charles Francis Adams, U.S. ambassador to Britain, was key to Britain remaining neutral during the American Civil War. has forwarded to the Mayor of Manchester the following letter from President Lincoln, in reply to an address from a meeting of the working-men of Manchester, held on December 31, 1862:–

“Executive Mansion, Washington,”

January 19, 1863

“To the Working-Men of Manchester.”

“I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the address and resolutions which you sent to me on the eve of the New Year.

“When I came on the 4^th day of March 1861, through a free and constitutional election,²⁰The Election of 1860, which resulted in a critical victory for the Republican Party, polarized Americans over slavery. The Republican Party ran on the platform of keeping newly acquired territories free, the Northern Democratic Party promoted popular sovereignty, the Southern Democratic Party insisted on slavery in the states and the territories, and the Constitutional Union Party sought not to address the slavery issue but to uphold the Constitution. to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war. Whatever might have been the cause, or whosoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was before me—namely, to maintain and preserve at once the constitution and the integrity of the Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose to perform this duty is the key to all the measures of administration which have been, and to all which will hereafter be pursued. Under our frame of Government, and my official oath, I could not depart from this purpose if I would: It is not always in the power of Governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of morals results which follow the policies that they may deem it necessary, for the public safety, from time to time to adopt.²¹The platform on which the Republican Party ran in the Election of 1860 was to preserve the Union. Thus, Lincoln was willing to allow slavery to exist in states where it had already been firmly established. However, the Republican Party was against the expansion of slavery into the territories. Controversy surrounding Lincoln’s motives behind emancipation exists. Some argue he used emancipation as leverage to dissuade free European from acknowledging and supporting the Confederacy. Others suggest he was driven by moral conscience. Indeed, Lincoln characterized the system as “founded on the selfishness of man’s nature–opposition to it on his love of justice.”

I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation rests solely with the American people. But I have at the same time been aware that favour or disfavour of foreign nations might have a material influence in enlarging and prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the

country is engaged.²²Britain and France’s potential aid to the Confederacy. A fair examination of history has seemed to authorise a belief that the past action and influences of the United States were generally regarded as having been beneficial towards mankind. I have, therefore, reckoned upon the forbearance of nations.²³Lincoln may possibly be saying that he expects and plans for European nations to refrain from aiding the Confederacy due to the Union’s just cause for fighting the war. Circumstances, to some of which you kindly allude, induced me especially to expect that if justice and good faith should be practised by the United States, they would encounter no hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration you have given of your desire that a spirit of peace and amity²⁴Friendship. towards this country may prevail in the councils of your Queen,²⁵Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837 to 1901. She became queen when she was eighteen years old. who is respected and esteemed in your own country only more than she is by the kindred²⁶Bonded by kinship. nation which has its home on this side of the Atlantic.

I know, and deeply deplore, the sufferings which the working-men at Manchester, and in all Europe,²⁷France also suffered from the embargo. Seven hundred thousand workers were immediately affected as France, unlike Britain, had not accumulated much cotton in its storage supply. Besides, the French government and elite had always perceived the working class as subversive–this cotton famine could be the agent of imminent social strife. Thus, Louis Napoleon, the sitting French monarch, sought to respond more aggressively to Lincoln’s embargo. Receiving little support from Britain on his plan to side with the Confederacy and dismantle the embargo, Napoleon recanted his political agenda. Even in Britain, elites were wary of showing support for the Union cause. British elites construed the agenda of Lincoln’s Republican Party as radical in its notion of freedoms and subversive of British status quo (constitutional monarchy). Thus, the upper class worried that the fervor of liberty surrounding emancipation would instigate protest among workers seeking better, more just conditions in the workplace and society. are called to endure in this crisis.²⁸Lincoln acknowledges the negative repercussions of his embargo on European nations, specifically the Lancashire region of Britain. The “Cotton Famine” refers to the stoppage of Southern cotton flowing into the textile industrial region and the ensuing challenges to livelihoods. Prior to April 1861, Britain would import 1.1 billion pounds of Southern cotton every year. Unprocessed slave-grown cotton entered Britain at the port of Liverpool and was transported through the region of Lancashire to independent textile mills. In 1860, 440,000 workers (1/5 of Britain’s working class) were employed to work at the 2,650 factories in the region. Manchester, a city within Lancashire, had the largest textile industry in Britain. Cotton represented a critical commodity for British economy. With mills dormant, unemployment among textile workers rose to 60%. Poverty ran rampant. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this Government, which was built upon the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain the favour²⁹The British spelling of “favor” as the letter was published in a Scottish newspaper. of Europe. Through the action of our disloyal citizens,³⁰The Confederacy. the working-men of Europe have been subjected to a severe trial, for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that attempt. Under these circumstances, I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is indeed an energetic and re-inspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation; and, on the other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and the most reciprocal fuelings of friendship among the American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that, whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make, perpetual.”

“Abraham Lincoln”

 

Source Texts:

“Address from the Working-Men of Manchester to President Lincoln.” Dundee Advertiser, 6 January 1863, p. 6

“Letter from President Lincoln to the Working-Men of Manchester.” The Scotsman, 13 February 1863, p. 4.

References:

“Abe Lincoln and the ‘sublime heroism’ of British workers.” BBC, 2013, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-21057494.

“The Blockade of Confederate Ports, 1861-1865.” Office of the Historian, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1861-1865/blockade.

Brain, Jessica. “The Abolition of Slavery In Britain.” Historic UK, 2019, https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Abolition-Of-Slavery/.

“British Involvement in the American Civil War.” MSU, http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/usforeignrelations/exhibits/show/british-involvement-in-the-ame#:~:text=On%20May%2013th%2C%201861%20Queen,citizens%20to%20observe%20this%20neutrality.

Butler, Nic. “The End of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.” Charleston County Public Library, 2018, https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/end-trans-atlantic-slave-trade#:~:text=On%20the%20first%20day%20of,slave%20trade%20into%20our%20country.

“Charles Francis Adams.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Francis-Adams.

“The Civil War: The Senate’s Story.” United States Senate, https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/civil_war/RoadtoWar.htm.

Current, Richard N. “Abraham Lincoln”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Lincoln.

“DC Emancipation Day.” Georgetown University, https://www.georgetown.edu/slavery/news/dc-emancipation-day/#:~:text=On%20April%2016%2C%201862%2C%20President,freed%20over%203%2C000%20enslaved%20individuals.

Evans, Farrell. “When Abraham Lincoln Tried to Resettle Free Black Americans in the Caribbean.” History.com, 2022, https://www.history.com/news/abraham-lincoln-black-resettlement-haiti

Heartfield, James. British Workers & the U.S. Civil War: How Karl Marx and the Lancashire Weavers Joined Abraham Lincoln’s Fight Against Slavery 150 Years Ago. 2012.

Hughes, Linda K. “Silent Center, Vocal Margins: British Literary Response to the US Civil War.”

Levy, Michael. “United States presidential election of 1860.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1860.

Mount, Joe. “How the British Workers’ Movement Helped End Slavery in America.” WSWS, 2015, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/05/linc-j05.html.

O’Connor, Thomas H. “Lincoln and the Cotton Trade.” Civil War History, vol. 7, no. 1, 1961, pp. 20-35.

Rodrigues, Jason. “Lincoln’s Great Debt to Manchester.” The Guardian, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2013/feb/04/lincoln-oscars-manchester-cotton-abraham.

Smith, Karlton D. “The Queen, the Emperor, and the Republican.” pp. 131-143. http://npshistory.com/series/symposia/gettysburg_seminars/8/essay6.pdf

“Southern Democratic Party.” Ohio History Central, https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Southern_Democratic_Party.

UVic’s English 471 class. “Janet Hamilton: Biography (1795-1873).” Scottish Women Poets, https://scottishwomenpoets.wordpress.com/poets/nineteenth-century-poets/janet-hamilton/

Woog, Adam. The Emancipation Proclamation : Ending Slavery in America. Facts on File, Inc, 2009. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.tcu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=nlebk&AN=272762&site=ehost-live.

Image citations:

Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Square, Manchester. 1919. Photograph. Courtesy of wikicommons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abraham_Lincoln,_Lincoln_Square,_Manchester.jpg#/media/File:Abraham_lincoln_manchester_england.jpg

Image Commentary: “Completed in 1917 by American sculptor George C. Barnard, this monument of Lincoln symbolizes a transatlantic moment in history when Abraham Lincoln and England’s Manchester workers were united in the cause of abolition. It is located in Lincoln Square, Manchester, England. The pedestal’s tablet is an excerpt from Lincoln’s letter to the Manchester workers beginning with ‘I know, and deeply deplore, the sufferings which the working-men at Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis.'”

Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left. 1864. Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/item/2004664341/.

Emancipation Proclamation. 1864. Photograph. Courtesy of wikicommons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emancipation_Proclamation.jpg