The riots in New York City in 1863 began as a protest against?

A. The Conscription Act. The poor of New York were tired of the rich buying their way out of fighting the war between the states. The poor Irish immigrants, tired of competing for low paying jobs with the free blacks of the north and not especially wanting to die in a war to free them organized themselves into gangs. The animosity of the various gangs plus anger at the unfairness of the federal "draft act" caused them to run amok, fighting themselves, local police, state militia, and federal troops.