Draft riots
Draft Riots ( convening riots ) is called the violent unrest that from 13 to 16 July 1863 in New York plunged took place and the city in the hitherto worst chaos in its history.
The last trigger was probably the introduction of compulsory military service due to the American Civil War , which the 37th US Congress decided in March 1863 with the Enrollment Act . A provision that made it possible to evade military service by paying $ 300 also aroused displeasure. In the middle and lower classes it was claimed that the American Civil War was the rich man's war and the poor man's fight ("a rich man's war and a poor man's fight"), but this appears to be statistically refuted.
US President Lincoln had also ordered the liberation of the slaves on January 1, 1863. The white population feared that black workers would give them strong competition in the labor market. Dark-skinned men were not drafted into the army because they were not considered citizens.
The Democratic Party , which had been expressing its displeasure with the government for some time, had great influence in New York at the time. Horatio Seymour , the popular governor of New York State , fought resolutely against the emancipation of slaves, against conscription and criticized Abraham Lincoln's war policies.
More than 50,000 people, mostly Irish men from slum areas like Five Points , roamed the streets; some of them looted and committed crimes, including against blacks, whom they blamed for the civil war.
At least 120 people died (mostly rioters) and at least 300 were injured. More than 100 buildings were destroyed, including police stations , military recruitment offices and the headquarters of the New York Tribune . The damage was estimated at $ 1.5 million.
After four days, the government succeeded in restoring calm with the help of several regiments detached directly from the Gettysburg battlefield to New York and under the command of John Adams Dix . The ringleaders who survived the unrest were largely able to evade punishment.
The decision of the City Council of New York to provide 2.5 million dollars to buy the drafted conscripts out of conscription (of 80,000 New Yorkers drawn, only 2,300 were actually drafted into the army) contributed to calming the situation. In terms of casualty numbers, the Draft Riots outpaced the Los Angeles riots in 1992 . In response to the unrest, the city received several fortified forts.
See also
- Gangs of New York : a 2002 Hollywood film about the uprising
- Gordon Riots (London, 1780): a Protestant revolt against a Catholic emancipation law
literature
- Iver Bernstein: New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War. Oxford University Press, New York 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-802171-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ McPhersons: Battle Cry of Freedom. 1988, Retrieved December 4, 2017 ( ISBN 0-19-503863-0 ).
- ^ Civilwarhome.com: New York City Draft Riots
- ↑ Kenneth T. Jackson: The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven 1995 ( ISBN 978-0300055368 ), p. 344
- ^ Jaime Bernanke: The Civil War Draft Riots (documentary, English). The History Channel 1998