Existing comment:
1861-1865:
Civil War:
After the defeat at the first battle of Bull Run, Virginia, Congress authorized a million-man Union volunteer militia. In response, the Confederate legislators authorized 400,000 volunteers. The Confederacy, under the leadership of President Jefferson Davis, enacted the first "national" draft law in 1862. President Abraham Lincoln was authorized by the Congress to draft militia forces for nine-month terms, instead of the previous three-month limit for militia service.
The draft law was based on the legal obligation to serve in the militia with each state having a required quota for militia service. The draft was not popular in the North and the South; many people saw it as an abuse of national power. Nearly fifty percent of Northern draftees sought exemptions to avoid military service. Anti-war riots broke out in New York City in 1863. The new draft legislation shifted the emphasis from state control of the militia to more of a centralized, federally mandated war policy. |