The United States shifted from a relatively porous state military draft in the nation’s early years to a harsh federal draft in 1917. This development had three major causes: the rise of a strong federal government, changes in the political philosophy held by dominant elites, and the precedent of the Civil War drafts.

David R. Henderson is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, an Associate Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Civil Liberties and Human RightsDefense and Foreign PolicyLaw and Liberty
Other Independent Review articles by David R. Henderson
Summer 2018 Why We Fight: A Study of U.S. Government War-Making Propaganda
Fall 2016 An Economist’s Case for a Noninterventionist Foreign Policy
Winter 2015/16 The Economy in 2065: Predictions and Cautions
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