G-boy

[g-boy]

Lol, well, I can see where you got confused, if you didn't see the movie. The riots were mostly about the fact that for $200, someone could avoid getting drafted into the Union army. So only rich people could avoid it, while the poor immigrants and such were forced to fight for a cause they didn't believe in, that is, freeing the slaves. So the riot was twofold... one, they rioted against rich people, and two, they attacked black people because they felt it was because of them that they were being sent away to basically die. Now, the movie was not about that so much... that just set the stage for the rivalry between the immigrants and those who called themselves "native" Americans, meaning white people born in the States, and the Lewis and DiCaprio characters. Extremely good movie, though it might not interest a lot of people.
Don't worry, I don't memorize this history stuff, I just happen to know this because I watched a Discovery Channel special called "The REAL Gangs of New York." That revived some memories of 11th grade US History, with Boss Tweed and such.