Legal Declarations Of War

Article One, Section Eight of the U.S. Constitution says 'Congress shall have power to.. declare war'

That is all it says. No specific format or terminology is defined or specified, nor is the term "Declaration of War" found anywhere in the Constitution.

Furthermore, despite the constitutional requirement that Congress declare war, it does not require that a war must be declared. In practice, throughout history the United States has fought wars based on 'authorizations' and only used the term 'Declare War' at the specific request of the President.

The term 'Declaration of War' have been used for 5 events, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II.

Authorized wars, not using the term 'declaration' date all the way back to the Quasi-War (1798) under President John Adams and continue with the First Barbary War (1801), Second Barbary War (1815), the Raid on Slave Trade (1820), Retaliation on Portugal (1859), Korea (1870), Philippine-American War (1898), Intervention in Russian Revolution (1918), Protection of Lebanon (1958), Viet-Nam (1964), Multinational force in Lebanon (1983), Invasion of Panama (1989), Persian Gulf War (1991), War in Afghanistan (2001), and the Iraq War (2002).

The Korean War was not authorized by the U.S. Congress, but was fought under authority of a United Nation resolution.

Congress, after World War II, limited its own power to 'Declare War' to using 'Authorizations of Force'.

The 'War Powers Resolution of 1973' limits the power of the President to wage war.

The act clearly defines how many soldiers can be deployed, and for how long without approval of Congress. The constitutionality of this act has never been decided, but with the sole exception of President Clinton's use of troops in the air campaign during the Kosovo War, all Presidents have received Congressional authorization as required under the act.

The wording of the Constitution and the historical actions of Congress indicate that any Act, either 'Declared' or 'Authorized', that provides funding and approves the use of deadly force meets the requirements of 'Legality' for the President of the United States to wage war.