Selective Service Act of 1917

The Selective Service Act or Selective Draft Act (P.L. 65-12, 40 Stat. 76) was passed by the Congress of the United States on May 18, 1917. It was drafted by Brigadier General Hugh Johnson after the United States entered The Great War. It authorized President Woodrow Wilson to raise an infantry force from the general population of no more than four divisions, cite web| url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWselective.htm| title=Selective Service Act |accessdate=2007-04-24] and it created the Selective Service System.

Origins

When the United States first entered World War 1, the total size of the US army was around 110,000. cite web| url= http://www.answers.com/topic/selective-service-act| title= Selective Service Act of 1917| accessdate=2007-04-14 ]

While President Woodrow Wilson, at first wished to use only volunteers to supply the troops needed to fight, it soon became clear that this would be impossible. Indeed, three weeks after war was declared, only 32,000 had volunteered for service. Receiving heavy criticism from his own party for destroying democracy at home while fighting for it abroad, Woodrow Wilson called for a draft. With the assistance of his Secretary of War, Newton Baker, he managed to pass the bill even with the opposition.

Effects

By the guidelines set down by the Selective Service Act, all males aged 21 to 30 were required to register for military service. (The age limit was later changed to include all men aged 18 to 45) By the end of WWI, some 24 million men had registered, and some 2.8 million had been drafted. cite web| url=http://www.sss.gov/induct.htm| title=Selective Service System: History & Records| accessdate=2005-12-27] In fact, more than half of the almost 4.8 million Americans who served in the armed forces were drafted.

Due to the effort to incite patriotic fervor, the World War I had a high success rate, with less than 350,000 men ”dodging” the draft.

Differences from Previous Drafts

The biggest difference between the draft instated by the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the Civil War draft was that replacements could no longer be hired to fight in a person’s place. In the Civil War, people who did not desire to fight could hire a replacement. However, because it was expensive to hire someone, only very rich people could afford to. This resulted in a disproportionately low number of rich men fighting in the war.

However, Section Three of the Selective Service Act of 1917 stated:

No person liable to military service shall hereafter be permitted or allowed to furnish a substitute for such service; nor shall any substitute be received, enlisted, or enrolled in the military service of the United States; and no such person shall be permitted to escape such service or to be discharged therefrom prior to the expiration of his term of service by the payment of money or any other valuable thing whatsoever as consideration his release from military service or liability there to.

ee also

* Conscription in the United States
* Selective Service System

References