Write a 4 page essay on Significance Of The American Draft For American Society.At present there is no provision for the conscription in America through the Selective Service System has been in place,

Write a 4 page essay on Significance Of The American Draft For American Society.

At present there is no provision for the conscription in America through the Selective Service System has been in place, as a backup plan. Here, American men between the ages of 18-25 must necessarily keep themselves registered so that when required the draft can be immediately brought into force. Many voices have been heard in recent times, asking for the return of the American draft, with President Obama calling for national service and others in his government asking for universal service to the nation. It is being conjured that no service is universal without making it compulsory, thus the question of penalizing those who do not take part in this so-called universal service also arises.

A look at the history of the American draft takes us long back into the colonial times where we find the conscription being often used by the thirteen colonies to force common men to take up arms in long, extended battles. This was because often the necessary manpower was not raised by voluntary or even paid services and thus the authorities resorted to coercion. The American Revolution also saw certain states using the draft to force men into the militia. However, the first conscription law was passed during the civil war in April 1862 by Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy. When a conscription act was passed by the Lincoln government of the Union in 1863, there was a huge riot in New York against the passing of this law. As Bernstein puts it “for five days in July 1863, armed mobs interrupted enforcement of the first federal conscription and struggled with the authorities...