Draft Riots in NY, Anti-Mason, Hunker and Barnburner-History NYS pre-1900
Miriam Medina Reference is made to the above mentioned subjects in the History section of New York State. See below information. __________________________________________________ Source: The New International Encyclopaedia Copyright: 1903,1904,1905 Publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company--New York NEW YORK STATE From Volume VI DRAFT RIOTS IN NEW YORK. A bloody disturbance which took place on July 13-16, 1863. The pressing need for more soldiers had compelled Congress to pass a Conscription Act (March 3, 1863), authorizing the President to recruit the army whenever necessary by a draft from "all able-bodied male citizens" between the ages of twenty and forty-five years. Any man, however, might, after being drafted, procure exemption from service by the payment of $300. The act was vigorously assailed as unconstitutional by the opponents of the Administration, who also asserted that the exemption clause was a flimsy device for enabling the rich to evade service. Among those who adopted and proclaimed such views was Governor Seymour of New York State, who seems also to have represented the attitude of many prominent men in New York City. On Saturday, July 11, the draft began, without opposition, in New York at one of the enrollment offices in the strongly Democratic Ninth District. On Sunday some drafted workingmen, aided by a number of political agitators, fomented the discontent of the populace, and organized an opposition to enrollment. The draft was renewed at 10 A.M. on Monday, but the assistant provost -marshal's office was soon attacked, demolished, and burned by a furious mob, which, after overcoming a squad of police sent against it, roamed about the city, and , frenzied by excitement and drink, committed numberless outrages. The rioters, prejudiced against the negro and feeling that the draft had been occasioned by an "abolition war," everywhere pursued the blacks with unrelenting rancor, and brutally assaulted, tortured, and killed many that fell into their hands. The Colored Orphan Asylum was attacked, sacked, and burned, and the offices of the New York TRIBUNE, one of the papers which had upheld the Administration, narrowly escaped destruction. On Tuesday the mobs, increased in number, continued to pillage, sack, burn, and kill, though in many districts they were sharply repulsed and partially dispersed by the police and militia. On Wednesday, the 15th, the assistant provost-marshal-general announced that the draft would be temporarily suspended, and militia regiments, arriving from Pennsylvania, rendered efficient service against the mobs. Large militia reinforcements arrived on the following day, and, though isolated bodies of rioters still defied the law, order was soon restored throughout the city. Before Friday morning the uprising had been thoroughly suppressed. It is estimated that during these four days more than 1000 men had been killed, and property valued at over $1,500,000 had been destroyed. On August 19th the draft was resumed, and it was completed, without further resistance, within ten days. CONSULT: the Official Records, Vol. XXVII., Part II. (Washington, 1889); Fry, New York and the Conscription of 1863 (New York, 1885) ; Barnes, The Draft Riots in New York (New York, 1863) : Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, Vol. VII. (New York, 1890), and Greeley, The American Conflict, Vol. II. (Hartford, 1866). ____________________________________________________ Volume I ANTI-MASONS...Th name of a political party in New York and other States, organized in 1827-28, chiefly as the result of excitement over the fate of William Morgan, of Batavia, N.Y., who was said to be about to publish, or betray, the secrets of the Masonic order, of which he was a member. He disappeared suddenly in 1826, and his fate has never been satisfactorily determined. The opponents of Freemasonry declared that he had been murdered and his body sunk in the river or lake at Niagara. Legal inquiries followed, but proved nothing. At or about that time the governor of the State was a Mason of the most advanced degrees, and probably a majority of all public officers were members of the order. Widespread excitement pervaded Western New York, and the Anti-Masonic party was formed, casting 33,000 votes in 1828, about 70,000 in 1829, and 120,000 in 1830, though many in the latter year were anti-Jackson men, without reference to Masonry. The party attempted to organize on national lines in 1830, and especially in connection with its National Convention of 1831: and in 1832 it supported William Wirt for President, but carried only one State, Vermont. The party was also able, through the disorganization of the Democrats, to control temporarily Pennsylvania, and it was strong in Ohio and Massachusetts; but after 1835 it disappeared as rapidly as it had arisen. Many who were conspicuous later in the two chief parties, such as Thurlow Weed (q.v.) and Seward (q.v.), were members of this party for a brief time; but upon the coalescence and harmonizing of each of the dominant parties, the life of a third national party became an impossibility, especially upon the subsidence of the excitement out of which it had arisen. CONSULT: Hammond, Political History of New York State (Cooperstown, 1846) : Hopkins, Political Parties (New York, 1900) ___________________________________________________ Volume X HUNKERS....(perhaps from Dutch honk, station, home). In American political history, the name applied for some years after 1843 to that part of the Democratic Party in the State of New York which stood for conservatism, and was arrayed against the radical faction of the same party, known as the Barnburners (q.v.). Factional differences had arisen in the party prior to 1843, but open and avowed antagonism maybe said to date from that year. The Hunkers adhered to the regular Democratic Party in the Presidential contest of 1848, while their opponents united with the Free Soilers, and with them nominated Van Buren. After 1852 the two factions acted more or less in harmony in both State and National politics. Among the leaders of the Hunkers were Horatio Seymour, William L. Marcy, Samuel Beardsley, Edwin Croswell, and Daniel S. Dickinson. The name "Hunkers" was also applied at times to the Conservative element of the Democratic Party in other States. __________________________________________________ Volume II BARNBURNERS...In American political history, a faction of the Democratic party in New York State after 1844, so called (in allusion to a Dutchman who was said to have burned his barn to free it of rats) from their supposed eagerness for radical reform measures--especially for such measures as would prevent the extension of slavery in the Territories. Unable to secure satisfactory recognition in the Democratic National Convention of 1848, they joined the Free Soilers, and with them nominated Van Buren for the Presidency. Their vote, dividing the Democratic strength, secured the election of Taylor, the Whig nominee. In 1852 they reunited with their opponents, the Hunkers, though the two factions did not work together in harmony until several years later.Before this time the name "Softs" or "Soft-shells" had replaced the name "Barnburners". Back To MILITARY Main Back To BROOKLYN Main