The Civil War Draft--Battleground of Citizenship: A PEP Event
Colleen Glenney Boggs (Parents Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities) will present a talk sponsored by the Political Economy Project. May 17 at 4:30, in Moore B03.
In 1863, the Union instated the first-ever federal draft. A massive bureaucratic undertaking, the draft transformed the relationship of Americans to the state and to one another, laying bare social divisions as wealthy draftees paid “commutation fees” to avoid serving or hired substitutes to serve in their stead. Colleen Boggs (English) explores this fascinating story, drawing on her recent book Patriotism by Proxy (Oxford, 2020).
