The Devil's Own Work - 9780802715081

The dramatic narrative of the largest riots in American history; Nine days after the battle of Gettysburg, the largest riots in American history broke out on the streets of New York City, nearly destroying in four days the financial, industrial, and commercial hub of the nation. As Barnet Schecter dramatically shows, the riots in New York and other northern cities erupted over the same polarizing issues that divided the nation during the Civil War, and they influenced attitudes across the country. Their aftermath foreshadowed the compromises that would bedevil integration for the next 100 years. Triggered by Abraham Lincoln's imposition of the first federal military draft in American history, which exempted those who could pay $300, New York's white underclass, whipped up by its conservative Democratic political leaders, raged against the powerful currents of social change embodied by Lincoln's Republican administration. What began as an outbreak against draft offices soon turned into a mob assault on upper class houses and property, and on New York's African-American community. Infused with the colorful voices of participants, politicians, newspapermen, soldiers, diarists, and many others, The Devil's Own Work opens another important window on the CivilWar era and on the history of protest and reform in America.