[salasa2006]

You did not mention in your course the draft. If we are looking at the constitution as ratified the 13th amendment clearly does not prohibit it. In the revolutionary war some state militas were mandatory. Also what does the raise and support armies for two years clause of article one mean? I’m essentially asking if the constitution prohibits the draft of if the draft is wrong but not unconstitutional.

[gutzmank]

Yes, state militia service was mandatory, but that’s a different issue. The fact that some states during the Revolution essentially conscripted people into state military units does not mean that the U.S. Constitution gives the Federal Government a conscription power. Absent a conscription power, the Tenth Amendment bans federal conscription. Tom and I have a chapter on this subject in our book Who Killed the Constitution? The two-year limitation means the Congress cannot raise a perpetual army, which was a European practice dangerous to parliaments’ power.

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