when was the first national draft used in the united states
American Civil War
title: Military service text: and substitutes were criminals or men with debilitating health problems, and thus largely useless. The Confederate government had begun drafting men in early 1862. Conscription was next used after the United States entered World War I in 1917. The first peacetime conscription came with the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. When World War II ended, so did the draft. It was quickly reinstated with the Korean War and retained for the next 20 years, especially in the Vietnam War. Active conscription ("the draft") ended in 1973. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, brought back draft registration. All title: National service in the United States text: 1805, Jefferson attempted to improve the system as President, but his efforts did not gain the support of Congress. In many states, the militias gradually devolved until existing almost exclusively on paper by the 1840s. During the War of 1812, President James Madison and United States Secretary of War James Monroe sought a military draft, but Congress vehemently opposed it. Conscription continued to remain the domain of the States through levies to form militias. The federal draft was first applied in the American Civil War, though on a very limited basis with only 2% of the Union Army being draftees. title: Conscription in the United States text: Conscription in the United States Conscription in the United States, commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the federal government of the United States in five conflicts: the American Revolution, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War (including both the Korean War and the Vietnam War). The third incarnation of the draft came into being in 1940 through the Selective Training and Service Act. It was the country's first peacetime draft. From 1940 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the United title: National service in the United States text: future conflicts would move so fast that there would be no time to train conscripts. Combined with the gaining influence of the Military-Industrial Complex, the country was gradually sold on the virtues of a technologically driven, professional military. In 1973, President Richard Nixon allowed the draft to expire, and the all-volunteer force was born. In 1974, President Gerald Ford granted amnesty to all draft evaders, and terminated the Selective Service Act (started in 1917) with Proclamation 4360, March 25, 1975. President Jimmy Carter reinstated the Selective Service System with Proclamation 4771, July 2, 1980. According to current Selective Service regulations, title: Conscription in the United States text: fiercely criticized on the House floor by antiwar Congressman Daniel Webster of New Hampshire. The United States first employed national conscription during the American Civil War. The vast majority of troops were volunteers; of the 2,100,000 Union soldiers, about 2% were draftees, and another 6% were substitutes paid by draftees. The Confederacy had far fewer inhabitants than the Union, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis proposed the first conscription act on March 28, 1862; it was passed into law the next month. Resistance was both widespread and violent, with comparisons made between conscription and slavery. Both sides permitted conscripts to hire