Conscription Riots Shook New York City; July 13, 1863

The anger stirred by this conscription law became intertwined with opposition to the “Emancipation Proclamation” (enacted in September 1862), a proclamation that made the abolition of slavery the war’s central aim in preserving the United States (the Union). In this context, Irish Catholics and the Democratic Party voiced the fiercest resistance, feeling that the war had been imposed on them by Protestant Republicans and fearing that the freedom of formerly enslaved people would jeopardize their job security.