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Article: Declare yourselves. (the power to declare war in the Constitution)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- January 28, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN SEEKING to resolve large constitutional controversies, it is often prudent to start with the language of the Constitution. In order to provide for the common defense, the Constitution distributes the war powers of the national government between the President and Congress. Article I empowers Congress to "declare war," while Article II empowers the President to serve as "Commander-in-Chief." Not to be overly Borkian about this, it appears that there is a role here to be played by both branches of the government.
What precisely those respective roles are, of course, has been the subject of constitutional tension ever since President Jefferson deployed a squadron ...