Enrollment Act The Enrollment Act , , enacted March 3 , 1863 , also known as the Civil War Military Draft Act , was legislation passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War to provide fresh manpower for the Union Army . A form of conscription , the controversial act required the enrollment of every male citizen and those immigrants who had filed for citizenship between ages twenty and forty - five . Federal agents established a quota of new troops due from each congressional district . In some cities , particularly New York City , enforcement of the act sparked civil unrest as the war dragged on , leading to the New York Draft Riots on July 13 – 16 . It replaced the previous Militia Act of 1862 . Organization . The Provost Marshal General James Barnet Fry administered the national implementation of the Enrollment Act and answered directly to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton . Beneath Provost Marshal General Fry were the State Acting Assistant Provost Marshal Generals . The State Provost Marshal Generals were not authorized by the Enrollment Act , but were appointed personally by James Fry to attend to matters in each individual state . New York and Pennsylvania were the only states that had more than one State Acting Assistant Marshal general ; New York had three and Pennsylvania had two . Each state was divided along district lines with each district under the jurisdiction of an enrollment board . The enrollment boards were headed by a district provost marshal and also included a surgeon and a commissioner . Each enrollment board employed clerks , deputies , and special agents as needed . The enrollment boards divided themselves into sub - districts along ward ( in cities ) and township ( in rural areas ) lines . In each sub - district a census was conducted by an enrollment officer to document every man eligible for the draft in the sub - district . Causes of unrest . The policies of substitution and commutation were controversial practices that allowed drafted citizens to opt out of service by either furnishing a suitable substitute to take the place of the drafted , or paying $ 300 . Both of these provisions were created with the intention of softening the effect of the draft on pacifists , the anti - draft movement , and the propertied classes . The result however was general public resentment of both policies . These two practices were major points of contention among the general public and led directly to the slogan " rich man ' s war , poor man ' s fight . " Substitution . The policy of substitutions was continued throughout the war . The problem with substitution was that it provided substitutes with powerful incentives to desert soon after enlisting . Career " jumpers " made a living off of enlisting as a substitute , collecting their compensation , deserting before their units were dispatched to the front , and repeating the process . This problem was well known to the military commanders who regularly saw the same recruits repeatedly . In addition , troops furnished through substitution were considered to be of an inferior quality in comparison to regulars and volunteers . Commutation . Commutation ( paying $ 300 to escape the draft ) was created in an effort to keep substitution prices low . If commutation were not instated , the price of a substitute would have quickly soared past $ 300 . In addition to suppressing substitution prices , commutation was intended to raise money for the war effort . While commutation did raise war funds , it was often a criticism of the draft that it was better at raising money than troops . The rationalization for commutation was that unwilling troops were ineffective , so the government may as well extract funds from the unwilling if it couldn ' t get proficient service . Despite the good intentions behind commutation , it was one of the most hated policies of the war . 1864 amendment . Congress passed an amendment to the Enrollment Act in 1864 . Section 5 of the 1864 amendment limited the length of an exemption from the draft due to payment of a commutation fee to one year ; those drafted thenceforth were required to serve or to furnish substitutes . 1865 amendment . Congress passed another amendment to the Enrollment Act on March 3 , 1865 ; this is sometimes referred to itself as the Enrollment Act of 1865 . Section 21 of the Act ( ) imposed denationalization ( loss of citizenship ) as a penalty for draft evasion or desertion . Justice John Marshall Harlan II ' s dissent in " Afroyim v . Rusk " mentioned the Enrollment Act of 1865 as an example of a law in which a person ' s citizenship could be revoked without his or her consent and which the Congress of the time did not regard as unconstitutional .