THE DEVIL S OWN WORK: The Civil War Draft Riots And The Fight To Reconstruct America.

Schecter, Barnet

ISBN 10: 0802714390 / ISBN 13: 9780802714398

Published by NY. 2005. Walker Publishing., 2005

About this Item

black & red hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. vg cond. binding square & tight. covers have 4 marks from old tape (dustwrapper was in a protective sleeve taped to the covers). edges clean. old glue marks inside covers & on front flyleaf, otherwise contents free of markings. dustwrapper in near fine cond. 1cm tear top of spine, not price clipped. good used copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking , underlining, remainder markings etc ~first edition. first printing ( # 1 in # line). xiii+434p. b&w photo illustrations. appendix. notes. bibliography. index. american history. american civil war. history of new york. abolition. conscription. ~ On July 4, 1863, Robert E. Lee and his Confederate army retreated in tatters from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Union began its march to ultimate victory in the Civil War. Nine days later, 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. Northerners suspected a Confederate plot, carried out by local "Copperhead" sympathizers; however, the reality was more complex and far~reaching, exposing fault lines of race and class still present in America today. Angered by the Emancipation Proclamation and by the first federal military draft in U.S. history, which exempted those who could pay $300, New York's white underclass, whipped up by its conservative Democratic leaders, raged against the powerful currents of social change embodied by President Abraham Lincoln's Republican administration. What began as an outbreak against draft offices soon turned into a horrifying mob assault on upper~class houses and property, and on New York's African American community. The draft riots drove thousands of blacks to the fringes of white society, hastening the formation of large ghettoes, including Harlem, in a once integrated city. As Barnet Schecter dramatically shows in The Devil's Own Work, the cataclysm in New York was anything but an isolated incident; rather, it was a microcosm, within the borders of the supposedly loyal northern states, of the larger Civil War between the North and South. The riots erupted, over the same polarizing issues~of slavery versus freedom for African Americans and the scope of federal authority over states and individuals ~ that had torn the nation apart. And the riots' aftermath foreshadowed the compromises that would bedevil Reconstruction and delay the process of integration for the next hundred years. The story draft riots comes alive in the voices of passionate newspaper rivals Horace Greeley and Manton Marble; black leader Rev. Henry Highland Garnet and renegade Democrat Fernando Wood; Irish soldier Peter Welsh and conservative diarist Maria Daly; and many others. In chronicling this violent demonstration over the balance between centralized power and civil liberties in a time of national emergency. The Devils Own Work (Walt Whitman's characterization of the riots) sheds new light on the Civil War era and on the history of protest and reform in America.

Seller Inventory # 3231506

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE DEVIL S OWN WORK: The Civil War Draft Riots And The Fight To Reconstruct America.
• Publisher: NY. 2005. Walker Publishing.
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802714390
• ISBN 13: 9780802714398
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • history of new york
  • american civil war
  • amercan history

About this title

Synopsis

On July 4, 1863, Robert E. Lee and his Confederate army retreated in tatters from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Union began its march to ultimate victory in the Civil War. Nine days later, 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. Northerners suspected a Confederate plot, carried out by local "Copperhead" sympathizers; however, the reality was more complex and far-reaching, exposing fault lines of race and class still present in America today.

Angered by the Emancipation Proclamation, issued six months earlier, and by Abraham Lincoln's imposition of the first federal military draft in U. S. history, which exempted those who could pay $300, New York's white underclass, whipped up by its conservative Democratic 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 horrifying mob assault on upper-class houses and property, and on New York's African American community. The draft riots drove thousands of blacks to the fringes of white society, hastening the formation of large ghettoes, including Harlem, in a once-integrated city.

As Barnet Schecter dramatically shows in The Devil's Own Work, the cataclysm in New York was anything but an isolated incident; rather, it was a microcosm―within the borders of the supposedly loyal northern states―of the larger Civil War between the North and South. The riots erupted over the same polarizing issues--of slavery versus freedom for African Americans and the scope of federal authority over states and individuals--that had torn the nation apart. And the riots' aftermath foreshadowed the compromises that would bedevil Reconstruction and delay the process of integration for the next 100 years.

The story of the draft riots come alive in the voices of passionate newspaper rivals Horace Greeley and Manton Marble; black leader Rev. Henry Highland Garnet and renegade Democrat Fernando Wood; Irish soldier Peter Welsh and conservative diarist Maria Daly; and many others. In chronicling this violent demonstration over the balance between centralized power and civil liberties in a time of national emergency, The Devil's Own Work (Walt Whitman's characterization of the riots) sheds new light on the Civil War era and on the history of protest and reform in America.

About the Author

Barnet Schecter is the author of The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution. He lives in New York City.