One hundred and fifty years ago America fought a civil war over slavery or freedom. The British government wanted to support the slave-rebellion of Jefferson Davis' Confederacy. They were backed by the rich and powerful throughout England. Lancashire's weavers, though they were suffering under the cotton famine, rallied to the cause of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation of the slaves. The British workers' campaign for the Union and Lincoln stopped the British government from joining the war on the side of the slave-holders' rebellion. Fighting for the freedom of the slaves, British workers won their own rights, too. Their campaign laid the basis for the reforms that gave working men the vote. Though it was well-known at the time, historians since have tried to bury the record of Lancashire weavers' struggle against slavery. Here the record is set right again.