In 1863 Lincoln prepared an opinion on the draft for the Civil War in
which he said, “At the beginning of the war, and ever since, a variety
of motives, pressing some in one direction and some in the other, would
be presented to the mind of each man physically fit for a soldier
upon the combined effect of which motives he would, or would not,
voluntarily enter the service. Among these motives would be patriotism,
political bias, ambition, personal courage, love of adventure, want
of employment and convenience or the opposites of some of these. We
already have, and have had in the service, substantially all that can
be obtained upon this voluntary weighing of motives. And yet we must
somehow obtain more or relinquish the original object of the contest,
together with all the blood and treasure already expended in the
effort to secure it. To meet this necessity the law for the draft has
been enacted. You who do not wish to be soldiers do not like the law.
This is natural, nor does it imply want of patriotism. Nothing can be
so just and necessary as to make us like it if it be disagreeable to
us. We are prone, too, to find false arguments with which to excuse
ourselves for opposing such disagreeable things. In this case, those
who desire the rebellion to succeed, and others who seek reward in
a different way, are very active in accommodating us with this class
of arguments.” He added, “The republican institutions and territorial
integrity of our country cannot be maintained without the further
raising and supporting of armies. There can be no army without men.
Men can be had only voluntarily or involuntarily. We have ceased to
obtain them voluntarily, and to obtain them involuntarily is the
draft--is conscription. If you dispute the fact, and declare that men
can still be had voluntarily in sufficient numbers, prove the assertion
by yourselves volunteering in such numbers and I shall gladly give up
the draft. Or if any one of you will volunteer he for his single self
will escape all the horrors of the draft and will thereby do only what
each one of at least a million of his manly brothers have already done.
Their toil and blood has been given as much for you as for themselves.
Shall it all be lost rather than that you, too, will bear your part? I
do not say that all who would avoid serving in the war are unpatriotic,
but I do think every patriot should willingly take his chance under a
law made with great care in order to secure entire fairness.”