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Recall that wealthy conscripts could buy their way out of serving in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
by toddh 14y ago
Recall that wealthy conscripts could buy their way out of serving in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
- gwern 14y agoYeah, but there it was justified as a way to raise funds for ruinously expensive wars at a time where most alternative methods of fundraising like issuing debt or debasing currency (Continentals, greenbacks) had already been tapped to the hilt. And buying your way out was expensive - IIRC, the Civil War fee was like $300, and I don't even know what that'd be equivalent to today ($30,000?). These body doubles have no such justifications.