<P> The New York draft riots ( July 13 -- 16 , 1863 ) , known at the time as Draft Week , were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan , widely regarded as the culmination of working - class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War . The riots remain the largest civil and racial insurrection in American history , aside from the Civil War itself . </P>
new york city riots 1863 began protest against
new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War