The Unpopular History of the United States
ing a plan of universal service it tried the more popular scheme of spurring patriotism with cash, and began bidding for men under the bounty system. Up, and up and up the climbing prices went. Four dollars bid! Six dollars and sixty-six cents! Ten dollars bid! By 1778 ruling quotations had reached $20 and 100 acres of land. But the rush did not occur. Something else did occur. Bounties made it impossible to get voluntary recruits, and before the end of 1777 Virginia and Massachusetts both had recourse to the draft—conscription, compulsion, universal service, or whatever you are pleased to call it. The states bidding for men against the Congress caused large numbers to desert and go home to grab the greater bounty. By 1779 the bounty had increased to $200 to any able bodied recruit who would enlist for the war. Then New Jersey offered $250, in addition to the $200, the clothing and land allowed by Congress. The Virginia Council raised the limit to $750, in lieu of all other bounties.
This created great dissatisfaction among
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