International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

On July 13, 1863, an angry mob of New York's working people began moving uptown from lower Manhattan, gathering workers from workshops and factories along the way. The protest was an expression of collective outrage over the National Conscription Act passed in March 1863, which made all single men aged 20–45 and married men up to 35 subject to a draft lottery. What was particularly offensive to working people was that the Act allowed deferred conscription to anyone able to pay the government a $300 exemption fee. The white working people of New York City were largely Irish immigrants. Some were skilled laborers, but the vast majority were unskilled and competed directly with the city's African American workers. Such competition created an atmosphere of racial tension and violence in the years before the war, and during the draft riots black citizens became the most identifiable targets for the rioters' rage, resulting in the brutal murder and mutilation of hundreds of African American men. Rioters also attacked white New Yorkers who provided shelter for African Americans, sacking and burning their homes. In lower Manhattan, Horace Greeley's New York Daily Tribune was set on fire because of its pro-Republican position. The rioters also attacked wealthy citizens, white and black, who they presumed to be Republicans. Because the crowd outnumbered the Metropolitan police force, efforts ... log in or subscribe to read full text