On the face of it, the privileges of commutation and substitution did seem to make the conscription act, in the words of a modern historian, “one of the worst pieces of class legislation ever passed by the United States Congress.”24 But a closer examination challenges this conclusion. Substitution was hallowed by tradition, having existed in European countries (even in France during the levée en masse), in American states during the Revolution, in the militia, and in the Confederacy.
