From “Porous” to “Ruthless” Conscription, 1776–1917

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Henderson, David R.
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2010
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What caused the United States to abandon its long tradition of a volunteer military, with some conscription by local and state governments, and to impose a harsh, federally run draft for almost forty years of the twentieth century? There were three major causes: (1) the existence of a much stronger central government, (2) a change in the political philosophy held by the elite, and (3) the Civil War draft. In this article, I document how each of these causes helped to bring about a harsh, ruthless draft in 1917, during the first year of U.S. participation in World War I.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10945/40466
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Business & Public Policy (GSBPP)
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The Independent Review, v. 14, n. 4, Spring 2010, ISSN 1086–1653, Copyright © 2010, pp. 587–598.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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