Learn about the origins of American military conscription in this clip from The Draft. As General Washington called for more troops to support his struggling army during the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers engaged in a debate about liberty, citizenship, and service. "Citizen soldiers" of the Revolutionary War were expected to fight—but did this expectation represent a tyrannical force akin to what the Patriots were fighting? Did the idea of compulsory service challenge the Constitutional ideals of the new nation?