On this day, March 3, in 1863

Congress passed the first draft law in United States history, authorizing the President to draft citizens into the Civil War. While most of the North supported the Union, the shortage of men enlisting in the military, especially in New York City, is what sparked this law. One of the provisions of the draft law allowed a man to exempt himself from being drafted in exchange for $300. This was controversial because $300 dollars in 1863 was a sum of money that only rich people could afford and the war quickly became known among the middle and lower classes as "the rich man's war and the poor man's fight". Soon after this legislation passed, rioting spread angrily through New York City in a violent expression of displeasure with the law.