Declaration of war by the United States

Declaration of war by the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941.

A declaration of war is a formal declaration issued by a national government indicating that a state of war exists between that nation and another. For the United States, Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution says "Congress shall have power to ... declare War". However, that passage provides no specific format for what form legislation must have in order to be considered a "Declaration of War" nor does the Constitution itself use this term. Many[who?] have postulated "Declaration(s) of War" must contain that phrase as or within the title. Others oppose that reasoning. In the courts, the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals in Doe vs. Bush said: "[T]he text of the October Resolution itself spells out justifications for a war and frames itself as an 'authorization' of such a war."[1] in effect saying a formal Congressional "Declaration of War" was not required by the Constitution.

This article will use the term "formal Declaration of War" to mean Congressional legislation that uses the phrase "Declaration of War" in the title. Elsewhere, this article will use the terms "authorized by Congress", "funded by Congress" or "undeclared war" to describe other such conflicts.

The United States has formally declared war against foreign nations five separate times, each upon prior request by the President of the United States. Four of those five declarations came after hostilities had begun.[2] James Madison reported that in the Federal Convention of 1787, the phrase "make war" was changed to "declare war" in order to leave to the Executive the power to repel sudden attacks but not to commence war without the explicit approval of Congress.[3] Debate continues as to the legal extent of the President's authority in this regard.

After Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in January 1971 and President Richard Nixon continued to wage war in Vietnam, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution (Pub.L. 93-148) over the veto of Nixon in an attempt to rein in some of the president's claimed powers. Today, Congress recognizes no claimed power of the president to wage war outside of the War Powers Resolution.

Contents

Declarations of war

Formal

The table below lists the five wars in which the United States has formally declared war against foreign nations. The only country against which the United States has declared war more than once is Germany, against which the United States has declared war twice (though a case could be made for Hungary as a successor state to Austria-Hungary).

In World War II, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germany and Italy, led respectively by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, declared war on the United States, and the U.S. Congress responded in kind.[4][5]

War Declaration Opponent(s) Date of declaration Votes President Conclusion
Senate House
War of 1812 Declaration of War upon the UK  United Kingdom June 18, 1812 19-13 79-49 Madison Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814)
Mexican-American War "An Act providing for the Prosecution of the existing War between the United States

and the Republic of Mexico."[6]

 Mexico May 13, 1846 40-2 173-14 Polk Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848)
Spanish-American War Declaration of War upon Spain  Spain April 25, 1898 42-35 310-6 McKinley Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898)
World War I Declaration of War upon Germany (1917)  Germany April 6, 1917 82-6 373-50 Wilson Treaty of Berlin (August 25, 1921)
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL31133.pdf  Austria-Hungary December 7, 1917 74-0 365-1 Treaty of Trianon (in part)
World War II Declaration of War upon Japan Japan Japan December 8, 1941 82-0 388-1 Roosevelt,
Truman
V-J Day, Japanese Instrument of Surrender (September 2, 1945), Treaty of San Francisco (September 8, 1951)
Declaration of War upon Germany (1941)  Germany December 11, 1941 88-0 393-0 V-E Day, Unconditional German Surrender, (May 8, 1945), Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (September 12, 1990), Treaty of Vienna with Austria (May 15, 1955)
Declaration of War upon Italy  Italy 90-0 399-0 Paris Peace Treaty (February 10, 1947)
Declaration of War upon Bulgaria  Bulgaria June 5, 1942 73-0 357-0
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL31133.pdf  Hungary 360-0
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL31133.pdf  Romania 361-0

Military engagements authorized by Congress

In other instances, the United States has engaged in extended military combat that were authorized by Congress.

War or conflict Opponent(s) Initial authorization Votes President Conclusion
Senate House
Quasi-War  France Act Further to Protect the Commerce of the United States
July 9, 1798
John Adams Convention of 1800 (Treaty of Mortefontaine)
First Barbary War Tripoli February 6, 1802[7] Thomas Jefferson 1805
Second Barbary War Algiers May 10, 1815[8] James Madison 1816
enforcing 1808 slave trade ban; naval squadron sent to African waters to apprehend illegal slave traders slave traders (pirates) "Act in addition to the acts prohibiting the Slave Trade" 1819 James Monroe 1822 first African-American settlement founded in Liberia, 1823 US Navy stops anti-trafficking patrols
Redress for attack on U.S. Navy vessel  Paraguay 1859[citation needed] James Buchanan
Intervention during the Russian Civil War  Russia 1918[citation needed] Woodrow Wilson
Lebanon crisis of 1958  Lebanese Rebels 1958[citation needed] Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vietnam War Viet Cong
 North Vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 7, 1964 88-2 416-0 John F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon

American Force withdrew in January 1973.
Multinational Force in Lebanon Shia and Druze miltias; Syria S.J.R. 159
September 29, 1983
54-46 253-156 Ronald Reagan Force withdrew in 1984
Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm  Iraq H.R.J. Res. 77
January 12, 1991.
52-47 250-183 George H. W. Bush The United Nations Security Council drew up terms for the cease-fire, April 3, 1991
2001 war in Afghanistan, also known as Operation Enduring Freedom  Afghanistan
al-Qaeda
S.J. Res. 23
September 14, 2001
98-0 420-1 George W. Bush

Barack Obama

Ongoing
Iraq War, also known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, currently known as "Operation New Dawn."[9]  Iraq H.J. Res. 114,
March 3, 2003
77-23 296-133 Combat operations ended August 31, 2010.[10]

Military engagements authorized by United Nations Security Council Resolutions and funded by Congress

In many instances, the United States has engaged in extended military engagements that were authorized by United Nations Security Council Resolutions and funded by appropriations from Congress.

Military Engagement Opponent(s) Initial Authorization President Conclusion
Korean War  North Korea

 People's Republic of China

UNSCR 84, 1950 Harry S. Truman Armistice[11] 1953
Multinational Force in Lebanon Shia militia,

Druze miltia, Syria

UNSCR 425, 1978

UNSCR 426, 1978

Jimmy Carter

Ronald Reagan

US forces withdrew in 1984
Gulf War,

also known as Operation Desert Storm

 Iraq UNSCR 678, 1990 George H. W. Bush UNSCR 689, 1991
Bosnian War

also known as UNPROFOR

Republika Srpska UNSCR 770, 1992

UNSCR 776, 1992 UNSCR 836, 1993

Bill Clinton Reflagged as IFOR in 1995,

Reflagged as SFOR in 1996, Completed in 2004

Second Liberian Civil War Peacekeeping UNSCR 1497, 2003 George W. Bush US Forces withdraw in 2003 after UNMIL is established
2004 Haitian Rebellion,

also known as MINUSTAH

UNSCR 1529, 2004

UNSCR 1542, 2004

2004
2011 Military Intervention in Libya

also known as Operation Odyssey Dawn

 Libya UNSCR 1973, 2011 Barack Obama Ongoing

Other undeclared wars

On at least 125 occasions, the President has acted without prior express military authorization from Congress.[12] These include instances in which the United States fought in Korea in 1950, the Philippine-American War from 1898–1903, in Nicaragua in 1927, as well as the NATO bombing campaign of Yugoslavia in 1999.

The United States' longest war was fought between approximately 1840 and 1886 against the Apache Nation. During that entire 46-year period, there was never more than 90 days of peace.[citation needed]

The Indian Wars comprise at least 28 conflicts and engagements. These localized conflicts, with Native Americans, began with European colonists coming to North America, long before the establishment of the United States. For the purpose of this discussion, the Indian Wars are defined as conflicts with the United States of America. They begin as one front in the American Revolutionary War in 1775 and had concluded by 1918. The US Army still maintains a campaign streamer for Pine Ridge 1890-1891 despite opposition from certain Native American groups.[13]

The American Civil War was not an international conflict under the laws of war, because the Confederate States of America was not a government that had been granted full diplomatic recognition as a sovereign nation. The CSA was recognized as a belligerent power, a different status of recognition that authorized Confederate warships to visit non-U.S. ports. This recognition of the CSA's status as a belligerent power did not impose any duty upon the United States to recognize the sovereignty of the Confederacy, and the United States never did so.

The War Powers Resolution

In 1973, following the withdrawal of most American troops from the Vietnam War, a debate emerged about the extent of presidential power in deploying troops without a declaration of war. A compromise in the debate was reached with the War Powers Resolution. This act clearly defined how many soldiers could be deployed by the President of the United States and for how long. It also required formal reports by the President to Congress regarding the status of such deployments, and limited the total amount of time that American forces could be deployed without a formal declaration of war.

Although the constitutionality of the act has never been tested, it is usually followed, most notably during the Grenada Conflict, the Panamanian Conflict, the Somalia Conflict, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War. The only exception was President Clinton's use of U.S. troops in the 78-day NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.[citation needed] In all other cases, the President asserted the constitutional authority to commit troops without the necessity of Congressional approval, but in each case the President received Congressional authorization that satisfied the provisions of the War Powers Act.

On March 21, 2011, a number of lawmakers expressed concern that the decision of President Barack Obama to order the U.S. military to join in attacks of Libyan air defenses and government forces exceeded his constitutional authority because the decision was made to authorize the attack without Congressional permission.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Doe vs. Bush, No. 03-126, March 13, 2003
  2. ^ Henderson, Phillip G. (2000). The presidency then and now. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 9780847697397. http://books.google.com/books?id=Zscghb2szdAC. 
  3. ^ The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison : August 17,The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, retrieved 13 Feb 2008
  4. ^ BBC News, On This Day
  5. ^ Whereas the Government of Germany has formally declared war against the government and the people of the United States of America... the state of war between the United States and the Government of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared. The War Resolution
  6. ^ http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL31133.pdf
  7. ^ Key Events in the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, (retrieved on August 10, 2010).
  8. ^ Key Events in the Presidency of James Madison, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, (retrieved on August 10, 2010).
  9. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38944049/ns/politics-white_house
  10. ^ Londoño, Ernesto (August 19, 2010). "Operation Iraqi Freedom ends as last combat soldiers leave Baghdad". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081805644.html. 
  11. ^ s:Korean Armistice Agreement
  12. ^ THE PRESIDENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST TERRORISTS AND NATIONS SUPPORTING THEM
  13. ^ Army Continues to Parade Wounded Knee Battle Streamer, National Congress of American Indians.
  14. ^ Obama Attacked for No Congressional Consent on Libya, New York Times.

Further reading

External links


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