Political tensions
"[The Irish] were furious at being conscripted into a war [by then] dedicated to freeing slaves.” |
“You are going to be drafted and sent to fight, while the black man takes your job and the rich man buys his way out…The working class felt cornered.” |
"New York City’s record during the war was as maddeningly contradictory as the city itself. On the one hand, there was its rampant Copperhead and pro-Confederate sentiment, and the devastation and savagery of the Draft Riots. On the other hand, Ellis wrote, the city 'supplied the Union Army with 15,000 soldiers and contributed $400 million to the war effort.'" |
Throughout his presidency, Abraham Lincoln faced serious opposition to his political and wartime policies.
- The Irish immigrants opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, which Lincoln had passed in January of 1863 because they feared the massive migration of newly-freed African-Americans to the North.
- Abolition of slavery, another of Lincoln's policies, wasn't accepted in the North.
- Opposition to Lincoln's policies was strongest when the Republicans passed the Conscription Act of 1863.
Democrats in the city divided into two different groups to show their opposition to the Republican Party. These groups were the Copperheads / Peace Democrats and the War Democrats.
Peace Democrats
They were against Lincoln’s ways of handling the Civil War, emancipation of slaves, and abolitionism, and opposed the draft law because they believed emancipation of the slaves was not worth fighting for. The Peace Democrats were opposed to the war and would have accepted a negotiated peace resulting in an independent Confederacy. In 1861, Republicans started calling antiwar Democrats "copperheads," likening them to the poisonous snake. |
War Democrats
The War Democrats supported Lincoln and his policies of emancipation.
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"During much of the nineteenth century, when large numbers of Irish and Blacks were present, they were pushed into competition. [...] Rather than being united by their common hard life, they were divided by the need to compete. For political benefit, this pattern was reinforced as Blacks were drawn to the Republican Party while the Irish strength in numbers was wooed by the Democratic Party."
- Library of Congress