New York City

===American Civil War===
{{Main|New York City in the American Civil War|History of New York City (1855–1897)}}

[[File:New_York_Draft_Riots_-_Harpers_-_lynching.jpg|thumb|Depiction of [[Lynching in the United States|lynching]] during the [[New York City draft riots]] in 1863]]

[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing the city's ties to the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor [[Fernando Wood]] called on the [[Alderman|aldermen]] to declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his proposal was not acted on.<ref name="Divided" /> Anger at new [[military conscription]] laws during the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to the [[New York City draft riots|Draft Riots of 1863]], whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class.<ref name="Divided" />

The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New Yorkers and their property after fierce competition for a decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground, with more than 200 children escaping harm due to efforts of the [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]], which was mainly made up of Irish immigrants.<ref name="Harris" />

At least 120 people were killed.<ref name="McPherson">{{cite book |last1 = McPherson |first1 = James M. |last2 = Hogue |first2 = James Keith |url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0077430352 |title = Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction |publisher = [[McGraw-Hill Education]] |year = 2001 |isbn = 978-0-07-743035-1 |page = 399 }}</ref> Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class had established dominance.<ref name="Harris" /><ref name="McPherson" /> Violence by [[longshoremen]] against Black men was especially fierce in the docks area.<ref name="Harris" /> It was one of the worst incidents of [[List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States|civil unrest in American history]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Cook |first = Adrian |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QNkeBgAAQBAJ |title = The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863 |year = 1974 |pages = 193–195 |publisher = [[University Press of Kentucky]] |isbn = 9780813162553 }}</ref>