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Declaration Of War Dbq

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The Constitution clearly grants the Congress the power to declare war in Article I, Section VIII. Article I Section VIII contains the enumerated powers, which is the life line of congressional power. This power is not shared with anyone, including the President. There is no limitation or condition on this power. The Congress can declare war at any time for any reason it wishes. The trick is that Congress as a body must agree by at least a majority, and that is why declarations of war are so rare. It is a major task to convince half of both houses of Congress that a declaration of war is necessary.
The President, however, is just as clearly made the Commander in Chief of all of the armed forces, in Article II, Section II. The President is Commander …show more content…

Similarly, the President ordinarily enjoys broader authority and initiative in foreign affairs.If Congress can constrain the President's use of his inherent Commander in Chief or foreign affairs powers, it follows that Congress can apply at least as strong constraints to the removal power, an unenumerated, allegedly inherent, domestic power.
What this has resulted in is the essential ability of the President to order forces into hostilities to repel invasion or counter an attack, without a formal declaration of war. A declaration of war by the Congress places the Unites States at war, but absent a declaration of war, the President can react to acts of war in an expedient fashion as he sees fit.
The Constitution clearly makes the Congress the most powerful of the three branches of government. Depending on the circumstances, however, the President might have more influence on Congress than one would think based on the separation of powers outlined in the …show more content…

The Court argued further that, like any other country, the United States has "external sovereignty" by which it may liberally assert or defend itself on the world stage as a free and independent nation. As Sutherland put it, "as a member of the family of nations, the right and power of the United States [in foreign affairs] are equal to the right and power of the other members of the international family. Otherwise, the United States is not completely sovereign." The Court also ruled that this unlimited power lies exclusively with the

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