To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (204419 ) 9/30/2004 3:04:55 PM From: tejek Read Replies (1) | Respond to Some American history apparently you managed to miss.But even the growing bounties were not enough, and in 1863 Congress took the unprecedented step of instituting a military draft at the national level. The Enrollment Act, as it was called, contained certain provisions intended to make the draft more acceptable. A drafted man could legally escape military service in two ways. A "commutation fee" was set that allowed a draftee to avoid the army by paying $300; or a draftee could purchase a substitute directly by offering a bounty at a market rate. "Bounty brokers" matched affluent would-be draftees with those seeking bounties. "Bounty jumpers" took the enlistment money and then disappeared, often to enlist in another locale and disappear again. Draft insurance societies arose in which eligible men contributed money to a common fund to be used to buy exemptions for any of its members who were drafted. The class bias of the system- "a rich man’s war, a poor man's fight," in the slogan of the day- led to major anti-draft riots in several cities. The worst erupted in New York City in July 1863, where four days of looting and lynching of blacks resulted in about 120 deaths. The anti-draft disturbances caused Congress to end commutation (though not substitution) in February 1864. In 1865, James Oakes, the head of the enrollment board in Illinois, issued an assessment of the Civil War conscription system. He recommended that every draftee personally serve in the military, that is, all commutations and substitutes be eliminated. He urged that federal bounties, too, be phased out. In addition, Oakes proposed that the responsibility for registering should rest with the draftee, not the board. Given the contemporary sound of these proposals, and the linkage of civic responsibility with conscription, it is little wonder that Oakes has been called the father of the modern Selective Service System. academy.umd.edu
