1619: First Africans brought to North American English colonies as slaves
1775–1783: The American Revolutionary War
1776: The Declaration of Independence
1789: Despite opposition from some Americans, the newly ratified Constitution of the United States accommodates slavery. The importation of slaves is banned as of January 1, 1808, but slavery is still legal.
1827: Slavery is abolished in New York State
1845–1851: The Great Irish Famine. More than one million people die of disease and starvation in Ireland, and another million emigrate to the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and elsewhere. Many of the Irish come to New York, where, as poor immigrants, they settle in Lower Manhattan.
November 6, 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected President. Many in the slave states see him as pushing toward abolition of slavery in the United States.
December 1860–June 1861: South Carolina secedes from the United States and is followed over the next few months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Later, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia joined the Confederacy.
February 1861: The Confederate Government is formed.
April 12, 1861: The American Civil War begins with a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter.
By January 1863: As the war rages on, mostly in the Southern states, a steady stream of blacks attach themselves to the Union Army or escape north. While few reach New York City, rumors precede them, and the city is filled with talk of thousands entering the city and competing for the few available jobs.
January 1, 1863: Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that most slaves in the areas of rebellion are free in the eyes of the federal government.
March 3, 1863: Lincoln signs the first conscription act in U.S. history, authorizing the president to draft “all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention to become citizens…between the ages of twenty and forty-five years….” A later section of this law stated “That any person drafted…may…furnish an acceptable substitute to take his place in the draft; or he may pay…such a sum, not exceeding three hundred dollars…for the procuration of such substitute.”
July 1–3, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg. In this bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the tide of the war turns in favor of the Union. Lincoln decides that it would be a good time to enact the conscription law he felt was necessary. Several New York regiments are at Gettysburg.
July 11, 1863: First draft drawing occurs in New York City, without incident. The provision of the draft allowing draftees to be exempted by providing a substitute or paying $300 was particularly galling to the poor Irish.
Monday, July 13, 1863: Second draft drawing occurs in New York City. A crowd, led by a company of volunteer firemen and consisting largely of poor Irish immigrants, attacks the Provost Marshal’s Office. As the violence spreads, blacks and property became targets. The Colored Orphan Asylum is burned down.
Tuesday, July 14, 1863: Rioters return to the streets and the violence continues. Militia ordered into New York City, including the 74th and 65th National Guard, and the vaunted Seventh Regiment, among others.
Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Draft is suspended. Violence begins to subside as militias begin to arrive and suppress rioting.
Thursday, July 16, 1863: More militias arrive. At a final confrontation near Gramercy Park, many rioters die.
April 9, 1865: General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
April 14, 1865: President Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre and dies the next morning.
May 1865: American Civil War ends. Remaining Confederate forces surrender, and the United States is reunited.
December 6, 1865: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery.
July 9, 1868: Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, conferring citizenship on everyone born or naturalized in the United States.
February 3, 1870: The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified, conferring voting rights without regard to race, color, or previous servitude. Gender is not mentioned.