Senator Howard, of Michigan, in urging the passage of this bill, said:

"Eighteen hundred and seventy-six will be a great epoch in the history of this Nation as I trust, if the people are true to themselves, true to their own interests, to that tutelary Constitution under which we have lived and prospered for eighty years past. I shall expect, if I shall have the good fortune to survive until that day, to see the Constitution in its vigor and purity restored, and the Union restored, and to see not one foot of slave soil within the territorial limits of the United States. I hope, sir, to live to see that day."

The bill as amended came back to the House, and was committed to a select Committee, and was not again considered by the House. On the 15th of December, 1862, the House, by a vote of 78 to 52, adopted resolutions sanctioning the proclamation of freedom and declaring it to have been warranted by the Constitution, and well adapted to hasten peace, and well chosen as a war measure.

The Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, in his annual report, expressed the opinion that the power of the rebels rested upon their peculiar system of labor, which enabled them, by the employment of slaves on the plantations, to support the masters while devoting themselves to the war. He expressed the opinion that it was the duty of the Government to strike down the system of slavery, and turn against the rebels its productive power; that by striking down the system of compulsory labor, the rebellion would die of itself. The President, as we have seen, had already done this, and Congress had sanctioned it.

In January, a bill passed the House, authorizing the President to enrol into the land and naval service such number of volunteers of African descent as he might deem useful to suppress the rebellion, for such term as he might prescribe, not to exceed five years. The bill provided that the slaves of loyal citizens from that portion of the Union not included in the proclamation. of emancipation, should not be received into the armed service, nor should there be recruiting offices opened in either of the States of Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or Missouri, without consent

of the Governors of those States. In the Senate, the bill was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, who reported it back, recommending that it do not pass, on the ground that the President already had the power proposed to be conferred by the bill. Up to January 1863, the vast armies of the Republic had been raised by volunteering, stimulated by patriotism, and aided also by Government and local bounties. Under the first call for 75,000 men, there had been furnished 93,000 and a fraction. Under the act of July, 1861, authorizing 500,000, there had been furnished 671,419 three years men. Under the call of July, 1862, there was furnished 430,201, and under the call of August 4th, 1862, 87,558 men. In addition to these, were the accessions to the regular army, and men who volunteered for shorter periods. In January, 1863, as the magnitude and duration of the war became fully developed, the conviction became general that the efficiency of the military power would be increased by placing at the control of the Government, the entire military force of the nation. Thus far, the ranks had been filled by the patriotic and generous, while many of the selfish, although enjoying all the benefits of the Government, shirked ignobly from making any sacrifices for its preservation. It was felt to be nothing but justice, that all who enjoyed the blessings of the Government, and who were fit for military service, should be made to contribute to its maintenance.

In January 1863, Senator Wilson, the able and efficient Chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, reported a bill providing that all able bodied male citizens of the United Sates, and those of foreign birth, who had declared their intentions to become citizens, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, should constitute the National forces, and be liable to military duty at the call of the President. From such call were exempted, as the bill finally passed, the Vice President, the Judges, Heads of "Departments of the Government, and the Governors of the several States; also the only son liable to military service of a widow dependent upon his labor for support; also the only son of an aged or infirm parent or parents, dependent upon his labor for support; also where there are two or more sons of aged or infirm parents subject

to draft, the father, or if he be dead, the mother may elect which son shall be exempt; also the only brother of children not twelve years old, having neither father nor mother dependent upon his labor for support; also the father of motherless children under twelve years of age, dependent upon his labor for support; also where there are a father and sons in the same family and household, and two of them are in the military service of the United States as non-commissioned officers, musicians or privates, the residue of such family; provided that no person who has been convicted of any felony shall be enrolled or permitted to serve in said forces. It divided the force into two classes: First, Those between twenty and thirty-five, and all unmarried persons above thirty-five and under forty-five: Second, All others liable to military duty. It divided the country into districts, in each of which, an enrollment board was established. The persons enrolled were made subject to be called into the military service at any time for two years from July 1st, 1863, and continue in service for three years. A drafted person was allowed to furnish an acceptable substitute, or on payment of $300 be discharged from further liability under that draft. Persons drafted failing to report, were to be considered deserters. All persons drafted were to be assigned by the President to military duty in such corps, regiments, or branches of the service as the exigencies of the service may require." *

This act passed March 3d, 1863. Nearly one year earlier, in April 1862, the Confederate Congress had passed a conscription bill, placing at the service of the President of the Confederate States for three years, unless the war should sooner cease, "all white men between 18 and 45 years of age."

Senator Wilson, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, urged the passage of the bill on these grounds: †

"The old regiments hardly average now more than four hundred men in the field fit for the stern duties of war. Many who rallied at the call of their country, and who followed its flag with unswerving devotion, now sleep in bloody graves, or linger in hospitals, or, bending beneath disease

* McPherson's Hist., p. 115-116.

Encyclopedia, 1863, p. 278.

and wounds, can no longer fill the ranks of our legions in camp or on the battle-field. If we mean to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws, if we mean to preserve the unity of the Republic, if we mean that America shall live and have a position and name among the nations, we must fill the broken and thinned ranks of our wasted battalions.

"The issue is now clearly presented to the country for the acceptance or rejection of the American people-an inglorious peace, with a dismembered Union and a broken Nation on the one hand, or war, fought out until the rebellion is crushed beneath its iron heel. Patriotism as well as freedom, humanity and religion, accepts the bloody issues of war, rather than peace purchased with the dismemberment of the Republic, and the death of the Nation.

"If we accept peace, disunion, death, then we may speedily summon home again our armies; if we accept war, until the flag of the Republic waves over every foot of our united country, then we must see to it that the ranks of our armies, broken by toil, disease, and death, are filled again with the health and vigor of life. To fill the thinned ranks of our battalions, we must again call upon the people. The immense numbers already summoned to the field, the scarcity and high rewards of labor, press upon all of us the conviction that the ranks of our wasted regiments cannot be filled again by the old system of volunteering. If volunteers will not respond to the call of the country, then we must resort to the involuntary system."

It will be observed that by the provisions of this law, all able bodied citizens, black as well as white, were liable to be enrolled into the service of the United States. This bill coming down to the House after the middle of February, and Congress expiring on the 4th of March, the opposition entertained strong hopes of defeating its passage.

Mr. Olin, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, urging the early passage of the bill, said:

"It is the first time in the history of the Republic that Congress has been called upon to exercise that power given by the Constitution, 'to raise and support armies,' in the true and proper sense of the grant. Heretofore the soldiers of the Republic have voluntarily entered the ser"vice, or have done so in pursuance of a call made upon the Governors of the several States, either voluntarily or by constraint of State laws. This is the first attempted exercise of that great power, more than all

others, the index of our Nationality, to compel all our citizens to devote their lives to sustain, defend, and perpetuate the life of the Republic."*

Mr. Bingham of Ohio said, in reply to those who opposed the bill because it gave the power to Provost Marshals to arrest those opposing the enrollment and draft, and alluding to the arrest of a person in Ohio:

"I remember well, Mr. Speaker-who does not remember? that about the time that arrest was made in Ohio, for seven long days, a battle raged before Richmond. During that protracted struggle, while that field of conflict was covered with the thick darkness of battle and the shadow of death, and in all the loyal homes of our people hands were raised in silent prayer for the Republic and its defenders, a cry came up from the banks of the York and the James rivers, 'Help! help! help! brothers of the free North and West, or we perish, and our banner of glory and of beauty goes down before the armed legions of treason." In response to that call, the people rushed to the conflict, from the hills of New England to the golden sands of California, filling the continent with their shout,

'We are coming, we are coming,
Six hundred thousand more;

"It was in the presence of this sublime uprising of the freemen of this land, for the defense of their homes and country, and the rescue from an unequal struggle of your gallant army, that a partizan in Ohio, it is said, dared to outrage and disgrace humanity by saying to his neighbors, stop, brother Democrats, stay at home and vote; and let the army of the Union perish.' It is said that man was arrested by order of the President."+

6

Mr. Cox moved to insert "white" so as to limit the bill to white citizens. This was rejected.

Mr. Sargent of California, urging the passage of the bill, said:

"It must be admitted that the successful raising of armies by the rebels has been accomplished by the conscription principle. By no other could they have kept full half a million men in arms,—so large a proportion of their available population. As must fight, we must begin to fight upon effective principles. We must gird

* Vol. 47. Congressional Globe. p. 1214.

† Vol. 47 Congressional Globe, page 1229.

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