Cotton famine,
A period of distress in
Lancashire and other seats of cotton manufacture in
England, caused by the cutting off of the importation of raw material from the
United States by the blockade of Southern ports during the
Civil War. The English market was overstocked with American cotton at the beginning of the
Civil War, and the actual distress did not begin till nearly a year thereafter.
In December, 1863, it was found necessary to organize systems of relief, and at the end of that month 496,816 persons in the cotton-manufacturing cities were dependent on charitable or parochial funds for sustenance.
In February, 1863, three American vessels, the
George Griswold, the
Achilles, and the
Hope, loaded with relief supplies, contributed by the citizens of the
United States, reached
Liverpool, and by the end of June the distress began to diminish.
At that time the sum of $9,871,015 had been contributed to the various relief funds.
The action of the citizens of the
United States in sending substantial relief, while in the throes of civil war, was gratefully appreciated by a large number of the public men of
Great Britain.
In connection with this, see
Beecher, Henry Ward,
System of Slavery.