Reply #2: "Gangs of New York" is a Hollywood film. It is not

[TaleWgnDg]

accurate history. There were riots in N.Y. about the draft (conscription) into the Union Army, most of which were newly arrived Irish Catholics who were discriminated against in employment and housing. They refused to fight in a war to *free* the slaves in the South. And could not buy their way out of the draft as others could and did. It was legal to do so at that time.

Their escape was politics. The Irish entered politics as they did in most large northern cities where they settled.

edited to add: here's a fairly accurate overview of "Tammany Hall"
http://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/abouteleanor/q-and-a/glossary/tammany-hall.htm

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