Able Bodied Quotes
FDR assumed office with the Great Depression raging, and rapidly provided relief to destitute Americans—see related quotes.
This was the inception of the Civil War draft.
The New England and Middle Atlantic States had recruited and allowed Negroes to serve in their divisions with excellent results. These two Southern states were suffering badly as a result of the British Military dominance and atrocities. Almost all whites who were patriots were already under arms. Hence the recommendation. Despite their precarious position, the Southern States would not follow the recommendation. Many were convinced that the Blacks would never make good soldiers, and the those Southerners who disagreed were terrified that once armed, the Blacks would never submit to slavery and would support slave insurrections of the Black slaves who were not in the military.
This is one of the favorite quotations of students of labor relations. The Black Plague, which raged in Europe from 1347 to 1349, had left relatively few able bodied people alive. Given this shortage of labor, the price that workers could command rapidly increased. The wealthy were outraged that the law of supply and demand and the marketplace produced such a labor inflations and the king then passed this draconian decree that in effect was one of the early attempts at wage control. It went further in that the workers were required to work for the official wages and had no choice of not working at all. In effect, labor was drafted. See {611124} and {611126}
