Lincoln and the Enrollment Act

[ReignetteC]

Hello everyone,

First I apologize if the following question has previously been addressed and I missed the thread.

Second, I follow the Facebook page 'Saving Lincoln" because of its very informative and thought-provoking "On this Date" feature. Today's feature, about Lincoln's concurrence with Stanton about the Enrollment Act's "three hundred dollar clause" intrigues me. (As you know, this "clause" contributed to the deadly draft riots of 1863.) Thus, is there further insight with regard to AL's opinion? To whom in Congress did he express his opposition to the monetary requirement?

FYI: Here's the post:


On this date in 1864, President Lincoln forwarded to Congress a dispatch from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton regarding the Enrollment Act, which instituted a military draft. Stanton suggested that Congress repeal the Act's "three hundred dollar clause," which allowed draftees to get out of military service by paying $300. Stanton explained, "ample experience has now shown that the pecuniary exemption from service frustrates the object of the enrolment law, by furnishing money instead of men."
Lincoln informed Congress that he concurred with Stanton's recommendation.


Thanks!