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. Research Conscription
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd president of the USA from 1885 to 1889 and the 24th president of the USA from 1893 to 1897. He was born in 1837 at Caldwell, New York and died in 1908. He studied law and in 1855 he became a clerk at a Buffalo law office and in 1859 was admitted to the bar. He joined the democratic party, along with his law associates and took an active role in the local organisation. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, he didn't enlist and when conscripted took advantage of the commutation provision of the law and hired a substitute, staying behind to support his mother and two teenage sisters. In 1870 he was elected sheriff of Erie County. Research Grover Cleveland
Commutation is the right to receive an immediate cash sum in return for accepting smaller annual payments at some time in the future. This is usually associated with a pension in which certain life-assurance policyholders can, on retirement, elect to take a cash sum from the pension fund immediately and a reduced annual pension. Research Commutation
Scutage was a sum of money payable by a knight under the feudal system for his fee by way of commutation for personal service. It was first exacted in 1159 and was restricted by Magna Carter. Research Scutage
Originally a tithe was the tenth part of an income payable for the maintenance of the parish priest. The practice was commanded by Moses, but it seems not to have been continued by Christians of the Apostolic Age. In Great Britain the earliest record of tithes seems to be that of Bede. In 750 Egbert, archbishop of York, directed his clergy to teach their people to pay tithes. Tithes were of three kinds: predial tithes, the produce of the soil; personal tithes, the profits of handicraft or merchandise; and mixed tithes, often included in predial tithes, the produce of animals, including butter and eggs.
Where the income from tithes was more than sufficient for local needs, the tithes were often impropriated to cathedrals and monasteries. The greater tithes impropriated to monasteries often found their way into secular hands, as shown by the existence today of lay vicars and rectors. With the rise of Nonconformity in the 18th and 19th centuries there arose an agitation against the payment of tithes, and, refusing to pay, many persons were imprisoned.
By the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, and subsequent amending Acts, tithes were commuted to an annual tithe rent charge. The par value of the tithes was fixed according to their amount at the time, and on the assumption that a certain number of bushels of corn were worth 100 pounds. But the real value was to vary each year, according to the average price of corn during the preceding seven years, and this was periodically determined by rather involved tables. The agricultural depression of the 19th century reduced the amount of the tithe rent, and in many years it fell much below 100 pounds. In 1911 it was 71 pounds 4 shillings 1.75 pennies, but after that year it rose steadily, until in 1917 it was 92 pounds 1 shilling and 0.75 pennies. The changes in price occasioned by the Great War led to the introduction in 1918 of a bill which fixed the tithe rent charge at 109 pounds and 3 shillings and 0.75 pennies for the seven years ending January the 1st 1926. Tithe rent charge may be redeemed by arrangement with the board of agriculture on payment of 25 years' purchase. In 1920 471,094 pounds was paid to the ecclesiastical authorities for the redemption of tithe. Tithes in Great Britain were terminated by the Finance Act 1977. Research Tithe
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Abbreviations
Research Conscription
