Editing Selective Service System (section)

===1917 to 1920===
[[File:King, Stoddard WW1 draft card.jpg|thumb|World War I draft card. Lower left corner to be removed by men of African ancestry in order to keep the [[Racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces|military segregated]]]]
Following the U.S. [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|declaration of war]] against Germany on 6 April, the [[Selective Service Act of 1917]] (40 Stat. 76) was passed by the [[65th United States Congress]] on 18 May 1917, creating the Selective Service System.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/163.html |title = Records of the Selective Service System (World War I) |publisher = Archives.gov |access-date = 8 April 2011 }}</ref> President [[Woodrow Wilson]] signed the act into law after the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] failed to meet its target of expanding to 1 million men after six weeks.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.upi.com/How-the-draft-has-evolved-in-the-100-years-since-Selective-Service-Act/4031494780649/ |title = How the draft has evolved in the 100 years since Selective Service Act |publisher = United Press International |access-date = 21 May 2018 }}</ref> The act gave the president the power to conscript men for military service. All men aged 21 to 30 were required to enlist for military service for a service period of 12 months. As of mid-November 1917, all registrants were placed in one of five new classifications. Men in Class I were the first to be drafted, and men in lower classifications were deferred. Dependency deferments for registrants who were fathers or husbands were especially widespread.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Geva |first = Dorit |title = Different and Unequal? Breadwinning, Dependency Deferments, and the Gendered Origins of the U.S. Selective Service System |journal = Armed Forces & Society |date = October 2011 |volume = 37 |issue = 4 |pages = 598–618 |doi = 10.1177/0095327X09358654 |s2cid = 145781367 }}</ref> The age limit was later raised in August 1918 to a maximum age of 45. The military draft was discontinued in 1920.