 This state-administered system failed in practice and in 1863 Congress passed the Enrollment Act, the first genuine national conscription law, setting up under the Union Army an elaborate machine for enrolling and drafting men between twenty and forty-five years of age.Quotas were assigned in each state, the deficiencies in volunteers required to be met by conscription.Still, men drafted could provide substitutes, and until mid-1864 could even avoid service by paying commutation money.