In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

>> 87 4 “A Sin to Join the Army” The Debate over Conscription Citizen-soldiers, civilians temporarily acting as soldiers in response to their respective nation’s call, fought the battles of the Civil War. The standing Regular Army played its part, but the mass of the Union Army came from civilians who donned a uniform and shouldered a weapon in the nation’s service. Not all did so willingly. A significant number of Union soldiers entered the service under the terms of the Enrollment Act, the 1863 legislation that introduced the first large-scale mandatory conscription of military forces instead of relying entirely upon volunteers. Conscription (better known as the “draft,” because the system employed a random drawing of names as its selection process) has always caused controversy in American military history, but perhaps never more so than in its inaugural use in the Civil War. Sharp differences of opinion arose between those who favored conscription as a means of creating the armies necessary to win the war and those who were uncomfortable with the expansion of government power to the extent that the President could compel citizens to risk their lives against their wishes. The draft also raised divisive questions over the obligations of a citizen to the state, and whether the state could claim obligatory military service in return for the rights and privileges extended by the Constitution, or if compulsory military service violated individual rights by compelling citizens to defend the Union when patriotism was not enough of an incentive. This was not a purely academic debate, as the failure of conscription presented the very real possibility that the government could not muster sufficient military power to win the war. It was also the most purely military debate, as the question of conscription had the most direct impact upon battlefield success; the Union could still win the war without settling the slavery debate, for example, but the debate over conscription threatened to undercut the very strength of the Union Army itself. Thus, the debate over conscription came down to the choice of nation or individual, and whether voiding and defeating the intent of the Enrollment Act was worth losing the war. 88 > 89 especially in conflicts with Native Americans.2 There was also a state precedent . In 1862, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio conducted their own state drafts to fill the ranks of new regiments a year before the federal government imposed such an obligation.3 Lastly, there was a Confederate precedent. Facing the dissolution of an army consisting mainly of one-year volunteers, the Confederate government instituted a comprehensive conscription policy on April 16, 1862, nearly a full year before the Enrollment Act. While both credit and blame for the draft usually lands on Lincoln’s shoulders, Carl Sandberg points out in his biography of Lincoln that Congress itself conceived the wording of the law, with Senator Henry Wilson, a Massachusetts Republican, introducing the legislation.4 Congress and the Lincoln Administration justified the draft on several philosophical grounds. Asserting the nation had provided rights and privileges to its citizens, the government believed citizens were obliged, in turn, to defend the nation. Citing the sacrifices of the founders of the nation, the government used conscription as a form of compelled volunteerism to persuade contemporary Americans to repay the efforts of the revolutionary generation . The government also shaped the war as a defense of Constitutional principles, and citizens had to defend those principles against the destructive effects of secession and division.5 Conscription was also an element of the Republicans’ intellectual conception of themselves. Connecting economic success to the concept of the Protestant work ethic, the national leadership tied active support for the war through compliance with conscription (work) with victory in the war (success). This was especially evident in the party’s antebellum Free Soil roots, and was an idea that resonated with many soldiers already in the army. It was not enough that soldiers fought for the success of the country; the failure of a healthy man at home to do his part counteracted any effort by a patriotic soldier in the army, and success was impossible if more men stayed home than fought.6 The Enrollment Act required every man of draft age (20 to 45 years old) to submit to enrollment as a precursor to a potential draft call. Evading the enrollment process, or abetting evasion, risked a maximum sentence of two years in federal prison and a $500 fine. If drafted, a man had...

Share