The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1863-11-26

curing military force, upon what prlncl-
pie can Congress beY In Gibbons VS..
Ogden 60 Wheaton, 1867 the Supreme
Court of the United States laid down the
principle that all the powers vested by the
Constitution in Congress are complete in
themselves, and may be exercised to their
utmost extent, and that there are no linn
itations upon them, other than such as are
prescribed In the Constitution.
Il is not difficult to ascertain what must
have been intended by the founders of the
Government when they conferred upon
Congress the power to "raise armies" At
the time when the Constitution was formed
and when it was submitted to the people
for adoption, the mode of raising armies
by coercion, by enrolment, classification
and draft, as well as by voluntary enlist
ment, was well known, practised in other
countries, and familiar to the people of the
different States. In 1855, but a short
period before the Revolutionary War, a
British statute had enacted that all persons
without employment might be seized and
coerced into the military service of the
kingdom. The act may be found at length
in Rufhead's British Statutes at Large,
vol. Z, page 26S. Another act of similar
character was passed in 1857, British
Statutes at Large, vol. 8, page IL. Both
were enacted under the administration of
William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham,
reputed to have been one of the staunchest
friends of English liberties. They were
fouu1ed upon principle always recognized
modern civilized governments, that every
able-bodied man capable of bearing arms,
owes personal military service to the gov
eminent which protects him. Lord Chat
hams acts were harsh and unequal in
their operations, much more so than the
act of Congress now assailed. They reached
only a select portion of the able-b bodied
men IN the community, and they opened
wide a door for tavoritism and other abu-
ses. For these reasons they must have
been the more prominently before the eyes
of the trainers Of the Federal Constitution,
when they were providing safeguards to
liberty, and checks to arbitrary power
Yet, in full view OF such enactments, they
conferred upon Congress an unqualified
power to raise armies. And, still more
than this, coercion into military service,
by classification and draft from the able
bodied men of the country, Was to them a
wellknown mode Of raising armies in the
different States which confederated to
carry on the Revolutionary war. 1t was
equally well known to the people who
ordained and established the Constitution,
expressly "in order to form more perfect
Union, establish justice, ensure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common de.
fence, and secure the blessings of liberty
for themselves and their posteri.y" 1t
is an historical fact that during the later
stages of the war the armies Of the country
were raised, not alone by voluntary enlist
ment, but also by coercion; and that the
liberties and independence sought to be
secured by the Constitution were gained
by soldiers made such, not by their own
voluntary choice, but by compulsory draft.
Chief Justice Marshall, himself soldier
Of the Revolution, than whom no one was
better acquainted with Revolutionary his
tory, in his life of Washington (vol 4,
page 241), when describing the mode in
Which the armies of the government we're
raised, makes the following statement
'sIn general the assemblies (of the States)
followed the example of Congress, and
apportioned on the several counties within
the States the quota to be furnished by
each. This division of the State was again
TO be subdivided into classes, and each
class was to furnish man by contributions
or taxes imposed on itself. In some
instances draft was to be used in the last
resort" This mode of recruiting the
army by draft, in Revolutionary times, is
also mentioned in Ramsey's Life of WASH
ington (vol. 2. page 246), where it is said,
"When voluntary enlistments fell short of
the proposed numbers, the deficiencies
were, by the laws of the several States, to
be made up by drafts, or lots from the
militia
Thus it is manifest that when the men,
bers Of the Convention proposed to confer
upon Congress the power to raise armies,
in unqualified terms, and when the people
of the United States adopted the Consti-
tuition, they had in full view compulsory
drafts from the population of the country
as a known and authorized mode of raising
them. The memory of the Revoluti On
was then recent. Ii was universally
known that it had been found impossible
to raise sufficient armies by voluntary
enlistment, and that compulsory draft had
been resorted to- If, the1, in constituting
the Constitution, we are to seek for and
be guided by the intentions of its authors,
there is no room for doubt. Had any
Limitation upon the mode Of raising armies
been intended, it mus. have been express