The Probert Encyclopaedia of General Information

CONSCRIPTION

Conscription is the enlisting of the inhabitants of a country capable of bearing arms, by a compulsory levy, at the pleasure of the government, being thus distinguished from recruiting, or voluntary enlistment. It was introduced by Napoleon in 1798 by a law which declared that every Frenchman was a soldier, and bound to defend the country when in danger. Excepting in times of danger it provided that the army should be formed by voluntary enrolment or by conscription. The conscription included all Frenchmen from twenty years of age complete to twenty-five years complete. On the restoration of the Bourbons conscription was abolished. It was, however, reenacted, and continued through the Second Empire to form the mode of recruitment in France. A French act, passed in 1872, and other subsequent enactments, affirm the universal liability to conscription upon all males not physically incapacitated, who have completed their twentieth year.

In America conscription was employed by the United States Government and twice by the Confederacy for raising and increasing the armies. The first measure, introduced into Congress in 1814, during the war with Great Britain, was due to a proposal by New York and Virginia of a Federal classification and draft from the State militia. This bill was prepared largely by James Monroe, but was highly unacceptable to the Federalists and proved a failure, though the army was much in need of men. In 1863 a somewhat similar plan was introduced in Congress, but was objected to by the Democrats on the grounds of unconstitutionality and failed. Accordingly on May the 3rd, 1863, another bill passed both Houses, which had no reference to the militia, but called every able-bodied citizen of military age into the Federal service. A commutation of $300 for exemption was permitted, and persons refusing-obedience were treated as deserters. On April the 16th, 1862, and on July the 18th, 1863, the Confederate Congress passed conscription laws levying on all persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years. The unpopularity of the conscription caused the draft riots in New York City which lasted from July the 13th to the 16th, 1863, when the city was for four days in the possession of the mob.
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