The Lancashire cotton famine 1861 - 1865 Free Trade Hall public meeting 30th December 1862 chairman Abel Heywood Extract of an address from the working people of Manchester to his excellency Abraham Lincoln president of the united states of America "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 erasure of that foul blot on civilisation 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 consultation will cement great Britain and the united states in close and enduring regards this statue is the work of sculptor George Grey Barnard and was presented to the city of Manchester by Mr & Mrs Phelps Taft of Cincinnati, Ohio. it commemorates the support that the working people of Manchester gave in their fight for the abolition of slavery during the American civil war by supporting the union under president Lincoln at a time when there was an economic blockade of the southern states, the Lancashire cotton workers were denied access to raw cotton which caused considerable unemployment throughout the cotton industry. Abraham Lincoln born 12th February 1809 - assassinated 15th April 1865 President of the USA 1861 - 1865 American civil war 15th April 1861 - 9th April 1865 To the working people of Manchester 19th January 1863 I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working people of Manchester and in all Europe are called to endure in this crisis. it has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this government, which was built on the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of slavery, was likely to obtain the favour of Europe. through the action of disloyal citizens. the working people 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 truth and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity and freedom. I hail this interchange of sentiments therefore, as an augury that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exists between the two nations will be as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual