CHAPTER 16

A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM, 1863-1865

Black infantry company, 1864

INDEX

b.7

Civil War Draft

c.1

Blue Print for Modern America

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[b.7]

CIVIL WAR DRAFT

The power of the Federal Government grows

The Conscription Act (or Enrollment Act) of 1863 authorized the Federal government to draft citizens. It was the first general conscription act in our nation's history. Congress passed the law in accordance with the constitutional provision to "raise and support armies". The act is outlined below:

Terms of the act

  • military obligation imposed on males aged 20-45.
  • Federal agency headed by Provost Marshall in the War Department had jurisdiction over all Union states.
  • The US was divided into 185 military districts.
  • A military officer was assigned to each district with the responsibility of registering and calling up draftees.
  • Men were enlisted for 3 years or until the end of the war, which ever came first.
  • commutation fees or substitutes were accepted.
  • exemptions were granted.

stimulates volunteering

The conscription act was radical in that it allowed the Federal government to replace the states as the primary agency for manpower mobilization. Only 6% of Union troops were draftees, as the threat of conscription stimulated volunteering.

[c.1]

BLUE PRINT FOR MODERN AMERICA

Three acts

In 1862-63 The 37th Congress passed 3 acts that provided the blueprint for further continental development:

  1. Homestead Act
  2. Morrill Land-Grant College Act
  3. The Pacific Railroad Act

Their provisions

The Homestead Act granted land virtually free if a settler lived on for 4 years and made improvements. The Morrill Act granted thousands of acres for counties to establish colleges for technical and agricultural instruction. The Pacific Rail Road Act granted land to railroad companies seeking to construct a transcontinental railroad. In 1869, Union Pacific and Central Pacific completed the first transcontinental railway at Promontory Point, Utah, with the hammering of the "Golden Spike."

Crucial to Western development

Implementation of these laws was accompanied by some waste and corruption as well as by outright exploitation of Indians. These issues aside, the landscape of western America was becoming marked by settlers, railroads, and colleges.

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