Selective Service Act (1917)

Commentary

When the United States entered World War I, the nation's armed forces consisted of about 200,000 volunteers. To address the manpower shortage, Congress passed the Selective Service Act in May 1917. The act authorized the President to increase temporarily the size of the military and required all men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty to register for the wartime draft. At its peak in 1918, the U.S. Army numbered 3.7 million soldiers, 2.8 million of whom had been drafted.

To authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in view of the existing emergency, which demands the raising of troops in addition to those now available, the President be, and he is hereby, authorized—

First. Immediately to raise...