The Cotton Workers and the American Civil War

This chapter considers what led to the workers’ anger. Limitations on relief and poor treatment by the Poor Board Guardians were not the only reason for political agitation in Stevenson Square or in Manchester. The unemployed cotton workers were acutely aware of the potential causes of the Cotton Crisis, before and during the American Civil War. The unemployed cotton workers were aware of the cause of their poverty and had different opinions on how to tackle it. Their response to the American Civil War and the cotton blockade is well studied and contentious among academics, particularly with focus on the British workers and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Less studied is the workers’ response to charitable relief from America. The New York Times took interest in the events in Stevenson Square.