Mothers Against the Draft

Conscription: Four Centuries of Bad Faith

Also for many non-military reasons, the Constitutional Convention denied the federal government conscription authority. But the Constitution's military clauses, the Second Amendment and the Universal Militia Act of 1791 reaffirmed conscription at the state level. The militias (which slowly evolved into the National Guard) would be made available to the federal government ("federalizing the guard"), but only under specific circumstances: declared war, invasion, insurrection, domestic disorder.

CONSCRIPTION AND THE CONSTITUTION: THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING Arguments about conscription produce rather strange alliances. The left has traditionally opposed the draft on the grounds that it violates the conscientious beliefs of those opposed to war, compels participation in military adventures against reform movements throughout the world, and generally lays the heavy hand of government too forcefully on the shoulders of every citizen. The continuing viability of this tradition is exemplified by Senator Mark Hatfield's recent assertion that a volunteer army would preserve individual liberty and freedom as much as possible from unjustified security with the greatest efficiency and economy.(	Conscription in America CONSCRIPTION The term conscription has an unpleasant connotation to Americans who prefer the word draft whenever they speak of compulsory military enrollment. Temporary, selective drafts have played a periodic and often substantial part in obtaining America's wartime armies.
Involuntary servitude The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes involuntary servitude illegal under any US jurisdiction whether at the hands of the US government or in the private sphere, except as punishment for a crime: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction".	The Selective Service Act established the first peacetime conscription The Selective Service Act established the first peacetime conscription in United States history. The Act passed the U.S. Congress on May 18, 1917 and gave the President the power to draft soldiers. The Selective Service Act required that men between the ages 21 and 30 register with local draft boards. (The age range was later changed to 18-45.)
Conscription in other nations	Selective service in U.S. history The United States first adopted peacetime conscription with the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. The act provided that not more than 900,000 men were to be in training at any one time, and it limited service to 12 months—later (1941) extended to 18 months. After the United States entered World War II, a new selective service act made men between 18 and 45 liable for military service and required all men between 18 and 65 to register. The terminal point of service was extended to six months after the war. From 1940 until 1947—when the wartime selective service act expired after extensions by Congress—over 10,000,000 men were inducted.
Daniel Webster on Conscription During America's first great war, waged against Great Britain, the Madison Administration tried to introduce a conscription bill into Congress. This bill called forth one of Daniel Webster's most eloquent efforts, in a powerful opposition to conscription. The speech was delivered in the House of Representatives on December 9, 1814.	Induction Statistics
Timeline of conscription in the U.S.