Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), American manufacturer and diplomat, helped develop the New England textile industry and later represented those interests in the U.S. Congress.

Abbott Lawrence was born on Dec. 16, 1792, in Groton, Mass., into an old-line New England family that had settled in Massachusetts in 1635. He was apprenticed in 1808 to his brother, Amos, a Boston merchant who specialized in imports from Britain and China. After Abbott completed his apprenticeship, the firm of Amos and Abbott Lawrence was formed. The partnership supplemented its import trade with commission dealings in New England textile products. Ill health forced the premature retirement of Amos about 1830. About the same time, Abbott became convinced of the potential importance of textile manufacturing and plunged into the development of New England's industry. His involvement in the textile industry was accompanied by a change in his outlook on economic questions, including the Tariff of 1824, and he became...