USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
Upon entering World War I, the United States enlarged its military by-

(A) creating the Veterans Administration

(B) ** passing the Selective Service Act

(C) enacting the GI Bill

(D) establishing the Marine Corps

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act ( Pub. L. 65–12, 40 Stat. 76, enacted May 18, 1917) authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription.

Concept note-2: -The reason for the Selective Service Act, though, was that American men had not volunteered en masse or certainly not in the numbers needed to raise, train, and deploy an army quickly after the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

Concept note-3: -Congress quickly established a draft, and more than 4, 600 Selective Service draft boards screened 10 million men to find the strongest and most fit soldiers and sailors. The military grew from just 378, 000 strong in April 1917 to more than 4.7 million by war’s end, with an Army of 4.1 million and a Navy of 600, 000.

Concept note-4: -Which of the following was a result of the Selective Service Act? Men were required to register for military service.

Concept note-5: -To that end, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which Wilson signed into law on May 18, 1917. The act required all men in the U.S. between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for military service. Within a few months, some 10 million men across the country had registered in response to the military draft.