Final answer:
The Confederate government faced challenges in equipping a suitable army after an overwhelming response to their call to arms, leading to a military draft intensified by class issues and contradictions of states' rights principles.
Step-by-step explanation:
When the new Confederate government issued its call to arms, a large number of Southerners voluntarily rushed to enlist, motivated by the belief that the conflict would be short-lived. Following the assault on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the Southern rebellion resulted in the Confederate government recognizing a state of war with the United States. This declaration kick-started the Civil War, with men eager to defend the Confederacy, although resources to arm them were scarce.
Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy's president, and the Confederate Congress were immediately faced with significant challenges, including the need to secure machinery and munitions, and more pressingly, to raise and adequately equip a suitable army. This task was initially eased by the overwhelming numbers of volunteer enlistees, but as the war persisted, the dwindling enthusiasm and sheer volume of soldiers required the Confederate government to institute a military draft in April 1862 to maintain their forces.
The draft, mandating service from men aged eighteen to thirty-five, revealed underlying class issues—wealthy men could pay for substitutes, fostering resentment among the poorer conscripts. This discontent, compounded with the exercise of considerable central power by the Confederate government to enforce the draft, contradicted the ostensibly cherished principle of states' rights that the South fought to preserve, notably the right to maintain the institution of slavery.