Trivia 8-28-18 ~ 3 month draft

[Trivia Master]

On April 15 , 1861, President Lincoln called for loyal northern men to serve three months in order to suppress the Rebellion. A "three month" enlistment was NOT designated because Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Congress, or most Americans believed the war would be a very short one.
What was the decades-old U. S. Act that became law limiting Civil War enlistments in early 1861 to months, and not years as later in the war ?

credit: @connecticut yankee

Edit - I will be traveling from Thursday through Sunday, so the scoring of this question will be delayed until after I return. However, players should still expect that the question thread will be closed on Thursday as usual, so make sure to get your answers in before it closes.

hoosier

 

[hughes]

Militia Act of 1792

 

[SWMODave]

Section 4 of the Militia Act of 1795 provided: That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall receive the same pay and allowances, as the troops of the United States, And that no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which be belongs.

Source

 

[kholland]

The Militia Act of 1795

 

[BlueNGrey]

Militia Act of 1795 ?

The 1795 Act For Calling Forth The Militia




An Act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; and to repeal the act now in force for those purposes, 28 February 1795.

That whenever the United States shall be invaded, or be in imminent danger of invasion, from any foreign nation or Indian tribe, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth such number of the militia of the state or states, most convenient to the place of danger, or scene of action, as he may judge necessary to repel such invasion, and to issue his orders, for that purpose, to such officer or officers of the militia as he shall think proper. And in case of an insurrection in any state, against the government thereof, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, on application of the legislature of such state, or of the Executive, (when the legislature cannot be convened,) to call forth such number of the militia of any other state or states, as may be applied for, as he may judge sufficient to suppress such insurrection.

SEC. 2. That whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed, in any state, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this act, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia of such state, or of any other state or states, as may be necessary to suppress such combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed; and the use of militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the then next session of Congress.

SEC. 3. That whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, to use the military force hereby directed to be called forth, the President shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abode, within a limited time.

SEC. 4. That the militia employed in the service of the United States shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war as the troops of the United States: and that no officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, of the militia, shall be compelled to serve more than three months after his arrival at the place of rendezvous, in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which he belongs.

SEC. 5. That every officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, of the militia, who shall fail to obey the orders of the President of the United States, in any of the cases before recited, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one year's pay, and not less than one month's pay, to be determined and adjudged by a court-martial; and such officer shall, moreover, be liable to be cashiered by sentence of a court-martial, and be incapacitated from holding a commission in the militia, for a term not exceeding twelve months, at the discretion of the said court: and such non-commissioned officers and privates shall be liable to be imprisoned, by a like sentence, on failure of the payment of fines adjudged against them, for one calendar month, for every five dollars of such fine.

SEC. 6. That courts-martial for the trial of militia, shall be composed of militia officers only.

SEC. 7. That all fines to be assessed, as aforesaid, shall be certified by the presiding officer of the court-martial before whom the same shall be assessed, to the marshal of the district in which the delinquent shall reside, or to one of his deputies and also to the supervisor of the revenue of the same district, who shall record the said certificate in a book to be kept for that purpose. The said marshal, or his deputy, shall forthwith proceed to levy the said fines, with costs, by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the delinquent; which costs, and the manner of proceeding, with respect to the sale

of the goods distrained, shall be agreeable to the laws of the state in which the same shall be, in other cases of distress. And where any non-commissioned officer or private shall be adjudged to suffer imprisonment, there being no goods or chattels to be found whereof to levy the said fines, the marshal of the district, or his deputy, may commit such delinquent to jail, during the term for which he shall be so adjudged to imprisonment, or until the fine shall be paid, in the same manner as other persons condemned to fine and imprisonment at the suit of the United States may be committed.

SEC. 8. That the marshals and their deputies shall pay all such fines by them levied, to the supervisor of the revenue in the district in which they are collected, within two months after they shall have received the same, deducting therefrom five per centum as a compensation for their trouble; and in case of failure, the same shall be recoverable by action of debt or information, in any court of the United States, of the district in which such fines shall be levied, having cognizance thereof, to be sued for, prosecuted, and recovered, in the name of the supervisor of the district, with interest and costs.

SEC. 9. That the marshals of the several districts, and their deputies, shall have the same powers, in executing the laws of the United States, as sheriffs, and their deputies, in the several states, have by law in executing the laws of the respective states.

SEC. 10. That the act entitled "An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;" passed the 2d day of May, 1792, shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

[Approved, February 28, 1795.]

 

[Jimklag]

The Militia Act of 1792/1795

 

[Brenal]

Section 4 of the Militia Act of 1795 provided:

That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall receive the same pay and allowances, as the troops of the United States, And that no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which be belongs.

 

[captaindrew]

Militia Act of 1795

 

[Copperhead-mi]

The 1795 Act For Calling Forth The Militia (The 1795 Militia Act)

The pertinent part of the Act as it relates to the trivia question:

SEC. 4. That the militia employed in the service of the United States shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war as the troops of the United States: and that no officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, of the militia, shall be compelled to serve more than three months after his arrival at the place of rendezvous, in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which he belongs.

 

[GS]

The War of 1812 (1812-1815), a Declaration of War, and a regular army, was authorized by Congress, and a thirteen-month enlistment period.

 

[luinrina]

Me + political speak = a misunderstanding just waiting to happen. I always thought that an Act already is law? That's at least how I understand this Wikipedia article. I'm therefore a bit confused by the question what Act became law.

Nonetheless, my attempt at answering that question: The Militia Act of 1792

According to wikipedia:

On April 15, 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, called for a 75,000-man militia to serve for three months following the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter.

Wikipedia on militia:

Constitution and Bill of Rights (1787–1789)
The delegates of the Constitutional Convention (the founding fathers/framers of the United States Constitution) under Article 1; section 8, clauses 15 and 16 of the federal constitution, granted Congress the power to "provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia", as well as, and in distinction to, the power to raise an army and a navy. The US Congress is granted the power to use the militia of the United States for three specific missions, as described in Article 1, section 8, clause 15: "To provide for the calling of the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." The Militia Act of 1792[26] clarified whom the militia consists of:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside, and that within twelve months after the passing of this Act.​

The Militia Act of 1792 reads in section 4:

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall receive the same pay and allowances, as the troops of the United States, who may be in service at the same time, or who were last in service, and shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war: And that no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which he belongs.

Sources: Constitution Society, wikipedia (the above given, Militia Acts of 1792)

*crosses fingers*

 

[Stony]

Militia Act of 1795 provided:

That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall receive the same pay and allowances, as the troops of the United States, And that no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which be belongs.

 

[connecticut yankee]

credit for question. (thank you.)

 

[WJC]

On April 15 , 1861, President Lincoln called for loyal northern men to serve three months in order to suppress the Rebellion. A "three month" enlistment was NOT designated because Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Congress, or most Americans believed the war would be a very short one.
What was the decades-old U. S. Act that became law limiting Civil War enlistments in early 1861 to months, and not years as later in the war ?

credit: @connecticut yankee

The Militia Act of 1792 requires that "no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year...." This requirement was unchanged in the Militia Act of 1795, the applicable law at the beginning of the rebellion.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I think that should be the Militia Act of 1795, as I found this:

https://www.etymonline.com/columns/post/conscript

That the Militia Act of 1795 was still in effect shows this source, describing how Pres. Lincoln changed it to be able to add people of African descent to his dwindling army:

http://conscriptiontest.weebly.com/militia-act-era.html

The last evidence that the Militia Act of 1795 is what we are looking for is given here, when an amendment from 1862 concerning the duration of the enlistment refers to an earlier act, dated 1795 (colored frame by me):

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/37th-congress/session-2/c37s2ch201.pdf

 

[Mike Serpa]

The Militia Act of 1795

 

[Schwallanscher]

as lincoln called out the militia the pertinent law is defined in the militia acts of 1792 (version of 1795)

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall receive the same pay and allowances, as the troops of the United States, who may be in service at the same time, or who were last in service, and shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war: And that no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which be belongs.

full text of said acts

 

[JOHN42768]

Section 4 of the Militia Act of 1795 provided:

That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall receive the same pay and allowances, as the troops of the United States, And that no officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which be belongs.
Source:

 

[Zella]

It's the Militia Act of 1795, itself a revision of the Militia Act of 1792.

http://legisworks.org/congress/3/session-2/chap-36.pdf
https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/2/essays/87/commander-of-militia

 

[Ole Miss]

Militia Act of 1795 section 4
Regards
David