It’s one of the crappy legacies of President Lincoln. With the Civil War dragging on longer than expected, mainly due to him having incompetent generals and their underestimation of the Confederacy’s resolve (still murderous terrorists, not a legitimate opposition); a draft was required.
Why after two years into the conflict? At the beginning, there wasn’t any trouble getting enough volunteers. At the declaration, many young men wanted the experience since they probably bought into the bullshit canon of literature from the 19th Century and loved the stories told by veterans of The Mexican-American War or 1812. A common refrain you’d hear from someone using peer pressure on a friend would be, “C’mon, you don’t want to miss out because we’re going to whip the rebels and the war will be over in three months!” The seeds of future problem was also sown
A couple years of stalemate and the horrors of 1860s tech being utilized against 1840s tactics and strategies were enough for most enlisted men to call it quits. This left Lincoln with a shitty choice: negotiate a settlement with the traitors or gamble on the upcoming midterm elections if Congress issued a draft.
We all know how it panned out, the Republican majority voted to authorize the draft. Being Republicans, they also gave a loophole for their wealthy kind and patrons, draftees were exempted if they paid the Feds $300 (which is $7000+ now). Now it was official, it’s a Rich Asshole war and the poor and the middle class do all the dying. Lincoln was a dick here too. His oldest son kept pursuing his studies at Harvard. With the South, it was definitely a Rich Asshole war given only they had a strong stake in the outcome with their vast plantations requiring the six million enslaved people. They were a minority with all the power. In the rest of America’s defense, the Rich Asshole element would be the usual shit bags who made bank supplying the US Army and Navy and if they did “fight,” they were obviously the best choice for officer ranks.
It wasn’t hard for many to see through the Republican Congress and Lincoln’s hypocrisy. A horrible riot broke out in NYC’s Irish immigrant area. Republicans had no trouble having the Know Nothings in their camp, a political party whose main issue was expelling the Irish Catholics (and any other ethnic Catholics). Now the Irish were A-OK, even those who weren’t citizens, to be the US Army’s fodder. The most upsetting part was the Irish rioters taking their rage out on the wrong New Yorkers, Black New Yorkers. Lincoln was still wavering on allowing Black recruits despite frequent pleas from Frederick Douglass and other Black leaders. He feared this would make Maryland and Kentucky defect and the Pro-Union but Pro-Slavery Democrats in the North would capitalize on how he was trying to change the goals of the war. Lincoln should’ve given in sooner. The rioters murdered numerous Blacks and burned down an orphanage.
The Republicans were lucky their cynical ploy worked. After Gettysburg, about a week earlier, the Civil War had turned against the South. Lincoln would finally get the right generals in charge: Sherman and Grant. The latter leader knew what the key to victory was, defeat and capture the opposition’s head general, Lee; stop wasting time taking their stupid capital. Lincoln’s son Robert did join the Army near the end and got a cushy gig on Grant’s staff…how the powerful sufferʼ, as a Captain.
Sadly, nothing changed. The US would have drafts for WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. The only difference, the draftees couldn’t write a check but the Rich and Powerful continue to keep their offspring with candy-ass officer positions on staffs or later, they’re too sick. The poor really felt the brunt of Vietnam since both parties provided enough loopholes for middle-class men via deferments.
Many Tricky Dick apologists give the brooding tyrant too much credit for ending the Draft in 1973. This was another clever slight-of-hand. What he did was raise the base pay for joining voluntarily enough to maintain the numbers the US would require should troops need to return and/or the nightmare of WWIII broke out. Ergo, the Draft was no longer needed. It also meant America’s poor would continue to provide the fodder it has done over the last 50 years.