Civil War
Hundreds of thousands of New York's young men fought during the Civil War, more than any other Northern state. A war was not in the best interest of business, because much of New York's trade was based on moving Southern goods. The city's large Democrat community feared the impact of Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860. By the time of the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter, political differences had vanished and the state quickly met Lincoln's request for soldiers and supplies. While no battles were waged in New York, the state wasn't immune to Confederate conspiracies, including one to burn various New York cities and another to invade the state via Canada.
In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in states that were still in rebellion against the union. In March 1863, the federal draft law was changed so that male citizens between 20 and 35 and unmarried citizens to age 45 were subject to conscription. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay $300 were exempt. Antiwar newspaper editors attacked the law. Democratic Party leaders raised the specter of a deluge of southern blacks. On the lottery's first day, July 11, 1863, the first lottery law was held. On Monday, July 13, 1863, five days of large-scale riots began.
Read more about this topic: History Of New York
Famous quotes related to civil war:
“The United States is just now the oldest country in the world, there always is an oldest country and she is it, it is she who is the mother of the twentieth century civilization. She began to feel herself as it just after the Civil War. And so it is a country the right age to have been born in and the wrong age to live in.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“One of the greatest difficulties in civil war is, that more art is required to know what should be concealed from our friends, than what ought to be done against our enemies.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)