America's Upper Classes Have Gone AWOL

WashDad
Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:24:36 +0000

Westcoastmom:

This was also true during the Civil War - look at how many doctors and lawyers and even educators fought in this war.



I wouldn’t carry this idea too far. In the Civil War, draftees could pay someone to take their place, there were anti-draft riots in New York, and thousands of men quietly slipped away instead of showing up for the draft. I don’t have the facts handy (how’s that for a cop-out?) but I wouldn’t be surprised that draft-dodging was more widespread in 1863 than in 1968.