Thomas Jefferson lobbied heavily to ban a professional,
standing army, and pushed for the creation of a universal and classified
militia system that obligated every physically capable male to render service. Though he failed to have such a clause written into the
U.S. Constitution or
Bill of Rights, Jefferson continued to push for a universal and classified militia until his death in 1826. Led by
James Madison and
Alexander Hamilton, the
Federalists believed that a professional,
standing army under the control of the federal government was necessary. The Federalists won the debate, in part because of circumstances beyond their control. The first of these circumstances was
Shays' Rebellion. The uprising was triggered by veterans of the
American Revolutionary War who were losing their farms to unscrupulous lenders and
regressive taxes in
Massachusetts that heavily burdened small farmers to repay the
war debt from the very war they fought in. Individuals unable to pay were often thrown into
debtors' prisons. The various local militias that comprised Shay's "Regulators" went from town to town, shutting down Debtor's Courts and tax collection. They were eventually defeated by 4,400
mercenaries hired by Governor
James Bowdoin in cooperation with
Boston financiers. The political spin from the incident was that militias could not be relied upon and controlled, despite the exceptional circumstances that caused some of the Massachusetts militiamen to rebel in the first place. The second circumstance was the
Battle of the Wabash (
Fort Recovery, Ohio) in the
Northwest Indian War in 1791. A force of 1,000
Miamis,
Shawnees,
Buckongahelas, and
Delawares massacred a militia-heavy
US Army under the control of General
Arthur St. Clair. The Native Americans inflicted a 97% casualty rate on St. Clair's force, making it one of the worst losses in US military history. In response, President
George Washington and Congress raised the
Legion of the United States, a professional combined-arms brigade of cavalry, artillery, and infantry under the control of one of Washington's old subordinates, General
"Mad" Anthony Wayne. The Legion defeated the
Western Confederacy at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, thus affirming the place for a federally controlled, standing army in the new country, ostensibly to fight
Native Americans on the
Frontier. The door was closed on the issue with the
Militia Act of 1792. The 1792 Act codified the responsibility of all Americans in providing for the Nation's defense and mandated that every physically capable male between the ages of 18 and 45 be available for military service. The 1792 Act did not classify the militia (set service requirements according to age, i.e., 18- to 21-year-olds perform active service, 21 years and up perform voluntary or contingency service), or make the provision for select units (active-duty units that might serve alongside the regular Army), or provide uniform and detailed regulation throughout the States. Lastly, it did not provide financial ways and means to bring a National Militia into being. In essence, the Militia Act of 1792 was a compromise between all parties. The Federalists would not have to pay for the militia, which was always a concern. Also, many of the
Anti-Federalists did not want the Federal Government meddling in the regulation of their states' militias. They regarded it as an improper extension of federal power. Washington and Jefferson remained skeptical. Both wanted a classified or select militia, and they predicted the inadequate results of the 1792 Act. In 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.
The creation of the federal draft 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. It was reinstated again for
World War I with the
Selective Service Act of 1917.
Creation of the National Guard After witnessing numerous problems with the Militia during the
Spanish–American War, President
Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of War,
Elihu Root, pushed for a reformation of the old Militia System into a dedicated
National Guard Bureau within the
United States Department of War. The resulting
Militia Act of 1903 (also known as the Dick Act due to it sponsorship by Senator
Charles Dick from Ohio), classified all American males between the ages of 17 and 45 as either part of the organized militia (the
National Guard), or a member of the unorganized militia (all males within the age range who are not members of the National Guard). On June 3, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the
National Defense Act of 1916. The 1916 Defense Act increased the size and scope of the
National Guard and created the
Junior ROTC and
ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) for
high schools and
college campuses.
World War II With the anticipation of war in Europe, Congress passed the
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (Burke–Wadsworth Act). The 1940 Selective Service Act was significant because it was the first time in US History that conscription was enacted in peacetime, in spite of opposition from religious groups. The Act also contained a provision allowing for conscientious objection. This clause was a distinct departure from the World War I era when many
Conscientious Objectors were jailed. Under the 1940 Act, all males between the ages of 21 and 35 were required to register, with draftees being selected via lottery. Draftees were to serve for no more than 12 months, and their service was to be limited to the US or US territories only. The 1940 draft was not a popular program, but public sentiment changed with the bombing of
Pearl Harbor in 1941. To further conscription during the War, the draft age was lowered to 18. During World War II, US participation was invoked at virtually every level of American society. Over 16 million men and women served in uniform, over 12% of a population of 130 million. Additionally, over 400,000 gave their lives; the largest sacrifice in any American war with the exception of the Civil War.
Post World War II: the question of universal military training The downsizing of the US military after World War II, without proper regard to future threats, left America's forces ill-trained and poorly manned and equipped for the
Korean War. Following World War II, US Army end strength dropped from 8 million in the spring of 1945 to 684,000 by 1 July 1947, a reduction of 89 divisions to 12. Over the next year it was reduced again from 12 to 10. Spurred by tremendous public pressure to "bring the boys home," Congress had little interest in considerations for future conflicts. Besides, with the advent of the
nuclear era, it was believed that all future wars would be fought with
airplanes and
atom bombs. Demobilization, in turn, was conducted without much forethought to its effects on readiness. In
Germany, as veteran American units were disintegrated, the remnants were rolled up into the ad hoc
United States Constabulary. In
Japan, the
1st Cavalry Division was at 25% manning its first year of occupation duty, with minimally trained teenagers as its only replacements. The Army had dropped its basic training requirement from 13 weeks to eight, and in November and December 1946 only four weeks were required. By 1950, the four divisions that remained in Japan were at 48.8% strength, with their combat service support units only at 25.9%. Lastly, of the three divisions sent to
Korea in 1945 to prevent Soviet incursion there, two were deactivated and the third sent to Japan in 1948. No new weapons, vehicles, equipment, spare parts, or ammunition was thought necessary. Combat training was equally nonexistent. Immediately following the end of World War II, General
Jacob Devers, Chief of Army Field Forces, suspended all unit live-fire training even though the Army had a well-developed, wartime tested series of live fire exercises for squads, platoons, and companies. His rationale, and that of his successor, General
Mark Clark, was simple: safety. Safety was a greater concern to the Army's peacetime leaders than training readiness. To offset the rapid disintegration of the Army, General
George C. Marshall hoped President
Harry S. Truman and Congress would enact Universal Military Training (UMT), requiring all young men to receive one year of military training so the Army could expediently ramp up in time of war. This never happened, but when Army end-strength fell to a dismal 538,000 soldiers in June 1948, Congress begrudgingly passed the
Selective Service Act of 1948. Budget conflicts, though, resulted in adding only 100,000 new soldiers. Nuclear deterrence aside, The
United States' occupation of Germany and
Japan during this time was made possible by the absence of any insurgency, or a Soviet invasion. General Marshall ordered the
War Department to produce a Universal Military Service pamphlet in 1944. General Marshall's staff considered the pamphlet too controversial, so it was never disseminated. The pamphlet survived only in the archives at the
Library of Congress. Despite General Marshall's unsuccessful promotion of Universal Military Training immediately following World War II, he would get another opportunity when he became the 3rd
Secretary of Defense in September 1950. In the summer of 1950, the initial actions of the Korean War (including
Task Force Smith) painfully demonstrated the US military's lack of preparedness. In response, US military end-strength was increased from 1,460,000 to 3,250,000 by the summer of 1951. Though the immediate problem was addressed, Marshall sought a permanent solution for national defense, and pushed strenuously for UMT. President Truman had been considering such a program for several years. Their combined efforts resulted in the Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951. The
Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951 set the statutory terms of service for the military at a minimum of 8 years, lowered the draft age from 19 to 18½, increased active-duty service time from 21 to 24 months, and contained a provision obligating all young American males to UMT. There was one catch in the legislation though. The UMT clause had to be activated by further legislation for it to go into effect. Despite successive attempts over the next several years, such legislation was never passed. President Eisenhower took office in 1953 and ended hostilities in the Korean War. The Army and Marine infantries decreased in size. Eisenhower's "
New Look" defense policy shifted back to a reliance on airplanes and atom bombs, thus further decreasing the possibility of universal military service.
The Vietnam War The
Vietnam War significantly reduced America's desire for
conscription. The 'search and destroy' approach to
counter-insurgency degraded the fighting to virtual
attrition warfare. In turn, soldiers were placed in exceedingly difficult circumstances that maximized hazards and multiplied provocations for misconduct and breaks in discipline. Seeking to insulate future military operations from the ups and downs of American
civilian control of the military, military leaders looked to examples like the
Israeli 1967
Six-Day War as proof that all 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.
The Selective Service System President
Jimmy Carter reinstated the Selective Service System with Proclamation 4771, July 2, 1980. According to current Selective Service regulations, all American males between the ages of 18 and 26 are eligible for service. Failure to register within 30 days of a person's 18th birthday may result in five years imprisonment or a $250,000 fine. == Non-military national service ==