THE CONSCRIPTION ACT
The Conscription Act was a controversial law passed on March 3rd, 1863, to provide man-power for the Union Army during the Civil War; its ratification caused many poor Irish immigrants to feel as if they were being discriminated against by the government.
The Conscription Act required men between the ages of twenty and forty-five to enroll in order to provide manpower for the Civil War.
"In March 1863, fuel was added to the fire in the form of a stricter federal draft law. All male citizens between twenty and thirty-five and all unmarried men between thirty-five and forty-five years of age were subject to military duty. The federal government entered all eligible men into a lottery. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay the government three hundred dollars might avoid enlistment. Blacks, who were not considered citizens, were exempt from the draft." |
Due to the Conscription Act, the Irish felt the government oppressed their rights to be treated equally as other citizens in the city because they had to go to war while blacks were exempt and the wealthy could buy their way out.
COMMUTATION FEE
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Many cartoons were created to express the corruption that existed under the policy of allowing paid substitutes to serve in place of military draftees. The complexity of the Union's draft law and procedures encouraged fraud.
MIXED REACTIONS TO THE DRAFT
PATRIOTS
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PROTESTERS
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THE EXEMPT
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