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Mobilizing America With the declaration of war, the United States needed to mobilize the military, and fast. After all, when compared with the might and numbers of its enemies, the United States military was small. Wilson responded to the need for a large military by instituting the draft. The Selective Service Act called for universal, male registration. Unlike the draft of the Civil War, purchased substitutes were not allowed because they had caused too many …

…the war. The Sedition and Espionage Acts and the first amendment jurisprudence that followed them worked against the most fundamental ideas of liberal democracy: freedom of speech. Indeed, these acts did not stop functioning after the war, and were used as an excuse to prosecute innocent people during the Red Scare of 1919. In this sense, America proved to itself that the rights of the few can be easily ignored by the tyranny of the majority.