Until the early 20th century, the United States relied on calling out militia and volunteers rather than expanding the regular army. However, there were restrictions on the number of men and the length of time they could serve that the President of the United States, as opposed to a State Governor, could summon. Section 4 of the Militia Act of 1795 provided: On March 2, 1799 the number of militiamen able to be called by the President of the United States for a provisional army was limited to 75,000 men. Prior to the Civil War, this limit had never been adjusted to reflect the growth in the nation's population, which increased almost sixfold from 5.3 million in 1800 to more than 31 million in 1860. During that time, there had not been a domestic insurrection in the United States even on the scale of the short-lived Whiskey Rebellion of the early 1790s, and therefore little impetus for Congress to reconsider the numerical limits to the militia that had been codified in the late eighteenth century.
Declaration
The declaration by Lincoln read:
Secretary of War Simon Cameron's communique to the various state governors
Reaction and resistance
Rather than a call for 75,000 military volunteers from any American state or territory, the two proclamations called for a specific number of volunteers from each state. The Secretary of War's proclamation included slave states in the South that had not yet declared their secession, but excluded the two free states on the Pacific coast. At the time, a transcontinental railroad had not yet been built. Recently admitted Kansas was also excluded. Several Northern states communicated enthusiasm, with states such as Indiana offering twice as many volunteers as requested. Massachusetts volunteers reached Washington DC as early as April 19. Governor Isham Harris of Tennessee stated in a telegram to Lincoln, "Tennessee will furnish not a single man for the purpose of coercion, but fifty thousand if necessary for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers." Governor Beriah Magoffin of Kentucky declared that they would not send volunteers to a Northern army intent on subjugating their Southern brethren. Governor John Letcher of Virginia, whose state had been requested to furnish three regiments totalling 5,340 men and officers, had stated in the past his intent for his state to remain neutral. In a letter to Lincoln, he declared that since the president had "chosen to inaugurate civil war, he would be sent no troops from the Old Dominion." Governor Henry Rector of Arkansas stated, "The people of this Commonwealth are freemen, not slaves, and will defend to the last extremity their honor, lives, and property, against Northern mendacity and usurpation." The proclamation left Southerners opposed to secession until that point believing they were being compelled to choose sides. Eventually, four additional Southern states responded by declaring their own secession from the Union and joining the Confederacy. Although there was considerable pressure for Kentucky to also join, Kentucky ultimately remained in the Union with its elected government attempting to maintain a policy of armed neutrality. In seceded Virginia, Unionist elements in the Commonwealth's northwestern regions also formed a shadow government which opposed the Confederacy. With Union military assistance, this shadow government seized control of northwestern Virginia, which was ultimately admitted to the Union as the new state of West Virginia.
Subsequent actions
In early May, Lincoln gave a second call for an additional 42,000 men. On May 3 President Lincoln issued a further call for United States Volunteers to serve three years, with regiments to be organized by the state governments, unless sooner discharged. He increased the regular US army by 22,714 men and called for 42,034 more volunteers to enlist for three years. In July 1861, the U.S. Congress sanctioned Lincoln's acts and authorized 500,000 additional volunteers.
