Events Leading to the Draft riots
"The Effects of the Proclamation." The African-American Experience. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 2010. American Journey. U.S. History in Context. Web. 3 Jan. 2014.
The Draft Riots were protests against conscription. Conscription was only necessary because of the heavy losses sustained in the war to that point. One of the most substantial losses was at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Union suffered the most casualties since the Battle of Antietam, and the hit in the army caused Lincoln to implement a conscription law.
"That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State... shall be thenceforward, and forever free..."
-Abraham Lincoln The Irish-Catholics were also angered that the incoming blacks were exempt from the newly imposed draft law because they weren't considered citizens at that point. The Irish Catholics felt that it was unfair for them to have to go off to war while the African Americans could stay home and take their jobs, and this built up anger led to the draft riots turning into race riots.
"Buying a Substitute in the North During the Civil War." The Civil War. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 2010. American Journey. U.S. History in Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
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The above photo shows the flow of newly freed slaves into free northern territory as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation.
"Field Hospital, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania." The Civil War. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 2010. American Journey. U.S. History in Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a document written by Abraham Lincoln metaphorically freeing the slaves. Since he really had no power in the South, not many slaves ever received their freedom. This proclamation created a flow of African Americans into New York City. The Irish Catholics in the city were mostly anti-emancipation, so this increase in New York's black population threatened their way of life.
Click above for the full text of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
A controversial corollary of the conscription law of 1863 was one's ability to purchase a substitute to relieve them of their duties to serve in the military at a cost of $300. This heavily favored the wealthy and angered the middle to lower classes in the city. Many of the Irish Catholics fell in the middle to lower classes, and lacked the funds to purchase such replacements, and this inability added to the anger and influenced their participation in the rioting. To the left is a political cartoon depicting the purchase of a substitution. It displays this action in a negative light by showing the rich, if drafted, would have the entire poor population at their disposal in the selection of a replacement, while the poor would have no say in the matter.
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