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federAl conscription Act, mArcH 3, 1863 U.S. Statutes at Large 12:731–37. on April 17, 1862, the so-called Confederate Congress enacted the first Civil War–era conscription act—popularly called the draft. Volunteerism had not filled the ranks as southern military and civilian leadership needed, so the military circumstances forced them to the controversial step of conscripting men into the ranks of the army. Given the traditional rhetoric of the Americans , South and North, regarding the liberty of the individual to make their own decisions about how to live their lives, conscription into the military challenged that tradition of individual self-determination. And, like the later union conscription act, the Confederate Conscription Act really aimed to encourage volunteering rather than the heavy-handed policy of drafting people away from their normal lives into the military. The need for men reached the point for the union that the Congress enacted its conscription act in early march 1863. Noted Civil War historian James m. mcPherson assessed this public policy, saying that “it became one of the divisive issues of the war and served as a model of how not to conduct a draft in future wars.” unlike the tradition before conscription when states and state governors managed the job of filling the ranks, this draft was a federal process. It authorized the Provost marshals Bureau to enforce and manage the draft. The number of enrolled eligible men between the ages of twenty and forty-five determined the quota for each district. If a man’s name was drawn, numerous methods existed to avoid military service. more than one-fifth of those men drafted simply never showed up at the induction centers; they fled to the West, to Canada, or hid out in the countryside. Plenty of those who did report were sent home because their district’s quota had already been met with volunteers and draftees. others went home after convincing medical authorities that they were physically or mentally unfit for service or who qualified for one of the exemptions, Documentary History of the American Civil War era 130 such as being the sole means of support for a widow. even if someone did not disqualify under these options, a draftee could hire a substitute to take his place or, if the man had enough money, he could pay the federal government a $300 commutation fee and be exempted from the draft. of the 207,000 men drafted, 87,000 paid the fee and 74,000 furnished substitutes. Needless to say, huge opportunities existed for graft, corruption, fraud, and error; further, the commutation of service for $300 became resented and controversial. Yet, the needs of the war led both governments into enacting legislation they could not have imagined ever needing, much less enacting during the secession winter of 1860–1861. Chap. lXXV.—An Act for enrolling and calling out the national Forces, and for other Purposes. Whereas there now exists in the united States an insurrection and rebellion against the authority thereof, and it is, under the Constitution of the united States, the duty of the government to suppress insurrection and rebellion, to guarantee to each State a republican form of government, and to preserve the public tranquillity; and whereas, for these high purposes, a military force is indispensable , to raise and support which all persons ought willingly to contribute; and whereas no service can be more praiseworthy and honorable than that which is rendered for the maintenance of the Constitution and union, and the consequent preservation of free government: Therefore— Be it enacted by the Senate and House of representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all able-bodied male citizens of the united States, and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, except as hereinafter excepted, are hereby declared to constitute the national forces, and shall be liable to perform military duty in the service of the united States when called out by the President for that purpose. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the following persons be, and they are hereby, excepted and exempt from the provisions of this act, and shall not be liable to military duty under the same, to wit: Such as are rejected as physically or mentally unfit for the service; also, First the Vice-president of the united States, the...

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