On the New York City Draft Riots

This book is widely respected in scholarly circles, but it’s really hard for me to make sense of, mostly because mid-nineteenth century New York politics were a shit-show and there’s too much going on for me to keep track of.

Unlike other large urban insurrections during the mid-19th century (namely, the Paris Commune), there aren’t really any good guys in the riots. The victims here are mostly African Americans (who were wholly victims) and poor whites (who largely instigated the riots), and in many ways the riots were effectively an act of treason aimed at the federal government for the invocation of federal conscription and African Americans (who they feared would allow more African Americans to come from the South and take their jobs). Although the Republic’s military quashed the rebellion after Gettysburg, the Republican Party hardly “won” and the problems at hand would not become settled until the mid-1870s when middle-class and upper-class Americans unified against the eight-day work week.