There's an old saying, often attributed to various people (Mark Twain chief among them), that history may not repeat, but it often rhymes. No matter who said it, it's a fair observation. History does indeed often rhyme, and the history of humans is the history of conflict, both military and civil.
We are witnessing this rhyme right now, with the anti-ICE, pro-illegal alien unrest on the streets of many of our major cities, most particularly Minneapolis. With the arrival of Border Czar Tom "The Hammer" Homan in Minneapolis, we can hope that things are getting back under control, but I suppose that remains to be seen.
The past can inform the present, and if we look to the past, we can see many events that rhyme with today's troubles. One such is the 1863 New York Draft Riots.
In 1863, the truncated United States was in the throes of the American Civil War. Troops were needed, and so Congress passed the Conscription Act, allowing the Lincoln administration to draft young men into the Union army. We can debate the ups and downs of conscription later; that's a whole story unto itself. But the Act passed, and one rather odious provision allowed anyone who could afford it to buy their way out of the draft. This was broadly seen as making the state's war, as the saying went, a rich man's war, but a poor man's fight.
The first draft lottery was held on July 11, 1863. That's when the trouble began.
There was a racial element involved. Many low-income New Yorkers, right or wrong, saw freed slaves as people who would take jobs. Many saw the ongoing war as a war to preserve the Union and didn't care much about abolition. Whatever the reason, the streets of New York City exploded. Rioting and arson broke out on Monday, July 13th. Thousands took to the streets, many Irish and Americans of Irish descent. They attacked government buildings and black-owned businesses. Several thousand rioters, armed with clubs and other improvised weapons, descended on the Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue, looted and burned it, although the children were allowed to flee unharmed.
Soon, the dockworkers joined in. Black-owned businesses along the waterfront were set ablaze.
The worst violence, though, was reserved for black men. A number were killed outright by the mobs; the official death toll is set at 119, although it's likely much higher.
Here's where the rhyming escalates: New York's Governor, Horatio Seymour, was a Peace Democrat who opposed the draft law and tacitly supported the rioters. New York City's Republican Mayor George Updike appealed to Washington for federal troops to quell the rioting, but stopped short of declaring martial law.
The riot spread. By July 15th, the unrest had spread to Brooklyn and Staten Island. More businesses and homes, most often black-owned, were burned. Finally, 4,000 federal troops from New York units arrived, fresh from the field of Gettysburg, and after a couple of spirited clashes with rioters, order was restored.
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So, what lessons can we derive from this today?
First, there's a reason I invoke rhyme, not repeat. The parallel isn't perfect. The New York City draft riots were racially charged, but the rioters were attacking the innocent, whereas now the rioters are defending criminals. The New York City riots were over a new law that, arguably, was unjust. The current Minneapolis riots are protesting the enforcement of a law with no racial or class overtones; just the even-handed enforcement of immigration laws that have been on the books for years.
But there are too many similarities to ignore, both in what's happening now and in the 2020 "Summer of Love" riots. Many black-owned businesses were burned in 2020 as well, but that seems more due to indiscriminate viciousness than targeted racism. Now, police are being attacked, and many independent journalists who are on the scene of the "peaceful protests" have been attacked. At least some aid and comfort was also given to the rioters by New York's governor. That, too, should ring some familiar bells.
And, of course, the resolution: It took 4,000 federal troops, battle-hardened, all veterans of the great clash of arms at Gettysburg, to restore order.
Tom Homan is now on the ground and in charge in Minneapolis. He hasn't brought 4,000 United States Army troops with him. He's talking up the meetings he has had with Governor Walz and Mayor Frey. We can hope that now, Minnesota and Minneapolis will reverse course. There will still be protests, there will still be some truly stupid people trying to interfere with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) doing their jobs. But, maybe, just maybe, the corner has been turned, and we won't see any more similarities between 1863 and 2026.
But if we do, then there's always that solution: Declare an insurrection and deploy federal troops - we should note that in 1863, there was no such declaration by the Lincoln administration in this particular case, although the president had declared an insurrection in 1861 over the secession of the Confederate States. That is, and should be, the last-ditch solution.
And, as always, one other term out of the mists of history applies: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
