New York City Draft Riots

On July 11th eighteen sixty-three, America began the first nationwide military draft in order to fill the washed-out ranks of the Union Army. While many people in the country opposed the draft, it ran smooth, rebellion free in nearly every city; all except New York. The people of New York, in particularly Irish immigrants, felt the Conscription Act of 1863 was unconstitutional, and that a revolt was indeed necessary. The Conscription Act included a clause allowing …

…suffer from public criticism. The country seemed to have done all they could to change the war from a fight between the lower classes into a war amongst our entire nation. While even though these fervent rioters may have caused the biggest outbreak in our nation's history; their strikes were not great enough to change the speculation that the Civil War was a merely "rich man's war, and a poor man's fight". (Parton pgs. 96-98)