Essay On The New York City Draft Riot

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The New York City Draft Riots of 1863 were the cause of a lot of new laws, proclamations, etc. Back then nobody looked at “blacks” as citizens, basically you were not considered normal. Even middle class men were not given all their rights. A lot of people do not realize that the world did not get this diverse this easy. All sorts of groups had to pay the price and suffer to get the world where it is today. And really, if you ask anyone what the riot in New York is about, they will just stare at you. True, blacks were free but that did not make them like anybody else. Since the number of soldiers was going down in the Civil War, the United States Congress passed a legislation that made all the middle class men, black men, and most able-bodied men between the age of 20 and 35 to serve three years of service in war. Causing all these men to rage and attack the people getting out of it. You have money? Well you did not have to go. Which the other men that had no money to get out of it started taking their anger out on the people that could.[ ] It is probably one of the only times were the rich would try to disclaim their status from fear of what these men were going to do. Buildings, houses, properties, and even people were getting burnt and demolished from the people that were not even being considered in the community. The main reason that triggered the Draft Riot of 1863 was because the number if soldiers in the Civil War was dramatically decreasing. With not a lot of volunteers, they had to come up with another solution which led to the draft. Congress realized that they were about to face big problems if they do not come up with some volunteers, so what better way to get people to join then to force them. Passing this law ang... ... middle of paper ... ...the most significant moments of New York’s history. They resulted into an upward directed attack against the city’s rich and a downward attack against African-Americans. It was a moment were all the city’s secrets and troubles were exposed. At the end of the riots the city had two choices either to continue on with their troubled ways, or to turn around and make some new laws and rules to set the city straight. Even though it would take decades for them to pass some kind of reform to start the changes. The most significant thing about the Draft Riots is that they took this disaster and rather than using this moment to weep and complain about what had happened they turned it into an opportunity for change. Even though these things have happened hundreds of years ago, every moment and memory that occurred is the reason New York is the way it is running now.

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