The Dead Rabbits riot was a manifestation of the tension building in New York City and other major urban centers between immigrant-fearing Nativists and recently arrived German and Irish immigrants. Hundreds of members of both groups organized themselves into gangs in the 1840s and 1850s, and by 1857 the two most powerful gangs in the city were the Irish Dead Rabbits and the Nativist Bowery Boys. Before July 1857, there had been sporadic clashes between both gangs but these were limited. However, in July 1857, a perfect storm of events allowed for a large-scale riot to occur. NYC’s police force was in tatters, as it had split into two opposing forces: the Municipal and Metropolitan police, each of which favored a different side in the conflict. Furthermore, tension between the Nativists and Irish/Germans had reached a high point: the Bowery Boys were more outraged than ever at “corrupt” immigrant influences – notably liquor. The Irish and Germans had opened hundreds of saloons, bars and liquor stores in the city and the Nativist Bowery Boys were disgusted by this development. The Nativists had strongly entrenched political power, which they used to restrict the sale of alcoholic beverages and to impose other politicized restrictions. This prompted the Irish, under the banner of the Dead Rabbits, to form their own coalition and to support the political newcomer Fernando Wood to become mayor of NYC. These competing political interests were reflected in the sympathies that the two opposing police forces had and in the failure of the city government to mount an effective response to the riot. Dozens of businesses in The Bowery were looted and dozens of people were injured in the fighting as a result of this inaction. However, the important takeaway is that this riot was a reflection of a larger national issue: the widespread ideological clash between Nativists and immigrants in the USA’s major urban centers in the mid-nineteenth century.
