ded President
Lincoln's inauguration by about two months. The proposed secession
of New York City involved disrupting the bonds which bound her to
the State as well as the nation, and could not therefore possess
even the shadow of excuse of separate sovereignty, such as was
claimed for a State.

The dangerous doctrine of this Message and the suggestions for
making New York a _free city_, and other like political teaching,
bore fruit, and had much to do with building up a public sentiment
which culminated in resistance to the draft and the monstrous,
bloody, and destructive riots that ensued in New York City.

The significance of the defeat of the Confederate Army at Gettysburg
and the capture of Vicksburg on the 4th of July, 1863, were not
well understood in New York when, on Saturday, July 11, 1863,
pursuant to instructions, Provost-Marshal Jenkins commenced the
initial work on the corner of 46th Street and Third Avenue, by
drawing from the wheel the names of those who must respond to the
call of the Government or pay the commutation money.

The first day passed without any open violence, and with even some
good-humored pleasantry on the part of the great crowd assembled.
The draft was conducted openly and fairly, and the names of the
conscripts were publicly announced and published by the press of
Sunday morning. It appeared that the names of many men, too poor
to pay the commutation, had been drawn from the wheel, and these
would therefore have to go to the army in person regardless of
inclination or ability to provide for their families in their
absence. Others not drawn were apprehensive that their fate would
be the same. On Sunday, therefore, in secret places, inhabitants
of the district where the draft had commenced, met, and resolved
to resist it even to bloodshed. The absence of the organized
militia and other regular and volunteer soldiers was, by the leaders
of the movement, widely proclaimed, to encourage the belief that
resistance would be successful. The police, though efficient, were
not much feared, as they would have to be widely scattered over
the city to protect persons and property. In the promotion of the
scheme of resistance to Federal authority, organized parties went
early Monday morning to yard, factory, and shop, and compelled men
to abandon their labor and join the procession wending its way to
the corner of Third Avenue and 46th Street.

Captain Jenkins and his assistants, not ap