Abstract
The beginning of the book sets the background for the discussion and debate that follows. The book opens with the new challenges posed by a post-9/11 world in which terrorism is the new enemy. We look at an old problem—the war power—in light of new circumstances—terrorism. To draw insights into the contemporary controversy, we look back at the Framers of the American system and what they sought to do at the Constitutional Convention to “tame the dogs of war.” This led to the Framers giving to Congress, not the president, the sole authority to authorize or declare war. We explore the debates and decisions made by the Framers, discuss the ratification debate, and how the assertion of the war power has changed over time.
THE KING(in disguise): Methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in the King’s company, his cause being just…
WILLIAMS (a solider): But if the cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all, “We died at such a place,” some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them…
–Shakespeare’s King Henry V: in the English camp, the night before the battle of Agincourt
In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.
–Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolution of 1798
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
–Benjamin Franklin
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Notes
- 1.
Chris Edelson, The Grand Illusion (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016).
- 2.
See: Geoffrey Robertson, The Tyrannicide Brief (London: Vintage Books, 2006).
- 3.
Edmund S. Morgan, Inventing the People (New York: Norton, 1988).
- 4.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: The Call to Independence, ed. Thomas Wendel (New York: Barron’s, 1975, 1998).
- 5.
See: Noah Webster, Sketches of American Policy, ed. Harry R. Warfel (New York: Scholar’s Facsimiles & Reprints 1937).
- 6.
“Political Observations,” April 20, 1795, in The Papers of James Madison (PJM), 17 vols, eds. William T. Hutchinson and William M.E. Rachel (Chicago: Chicago University Press; Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1962–1991), 15: 511–534; JM to Thomas Jefferson, April 2, 1797. JMW, 586; See also: Jeff Broadwater, “James Madison on the Vices of the American Political System Today,” Extensions, June 2014, pp. 5–9.
- 7.
See: Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967), Chapter 4 (Bailyn 1967).
- 8.
See: Charles C. Thatch Jr., The Creation of the Presidency, 1775–1789: A Study in Constitutional History (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1923).
- 9.
Thomas E. Cronin ed., Inventing the American Presidency (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989). (Cronin 1989).
- 10.
See: Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power (New York: Free Press, 1989), Chapter 1.
- 11.
“The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Reported by James Madison: June 1,” the Avalon Project at Yale Law School, available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_601.asp. Accessed May 14, 2006.
- 12.
Quoted in Jack N. Rabove, Original Meanings (New York: Knopf, 1996), p. 257.
- 13.
James Madison, letter to Weedon Butler, May 5, 1788, as quoted in S. Sidney Ulmer, “The Role of Pierce Butler in the Constitutional Convention,” Review of Politics 22 (July 1960), pp. 361–374.
- 14.
“The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Reported by James Madison: June 4,” the Avalon Project at Yale Law School, available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_604.asp. Accessed May 14, 2006.
- 15.
See Locke’s Second Treatise, Chs XIV, as well as XII, and XIII. See also Thomas S. Langston and Michael E. Lind, “John Locke and the Limits of Presidential Prerogative,” Polity XXIV, No. 1 (Fall 1991), pp. 49–68. Benjamin A. Kleinerman, “Can the Princes Really Be Tamed? Executive Prerogative, Popular Apathy, and the Constitutional Frame in Locke’s Second Treatise,” American Political Science Review 101, No. 2 (May 2007), pp. 209–222.
- 16.
The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Ferrard, ed. 1937.
- 17.
See: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
- 18.
See: Louis Fisher, Presidential War Power, 2nd edition (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2004).
- 19.
David Gray Adler, “The Constitution and Presidential Warmaking,” in The Constitution and the Conduct of American Foreign Policy, eds. Adler and George (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1996), pp. 183–226. (Adler and George 1996).
- 20.
Alexander Hamilton, “Federalist No. 45,” in The Federalist with the Letters of “Brutus,” ed. Terrence Ball (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 252.
- 21.
James Madison, “Federalist No. 51,” in The Federalist with the Letters of “Brutus,” ed. Terrence Ball (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 227.
- 22.
Alexander Hamilton, “Federalist No. 70,” in The Federalist with the Letters of “Brutus,” ed. Terrence Ball (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 341.
- 23.
Irons, 26.
- 24.
Joel D. Grossman and Richard S. Wells, Constitutional Law and Judicial Policy Making (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1972), 566. See also: Michael A. Genovese, The Supreme Court, the Constitution, and Presidential Power (University Press of America, 1980).
- 25.
Louis Henkin, “Constitutional Issues in Foreign Policy,” Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 2, (1969), 224.
- 26.
During the presidency of George W. Bush, the Supreme Court did issue a series of rebellions against the administration (Rasul, Haman, Handi, Bourmedieire) about which we will review later.
- 27.
Ibid.
- 28.
Katherine Skiba, “Obama’s War Powers bid Disappoints GOP,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2015, A9.
- 29.
See: Robert F. Jones, “George Washington and the Establishment of a Tradition,” in Power and the Presidency, ed. Phillip C. Dolce and George H. Skau (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970), 13–24.
- 30.
Ibid., 19.
- 31.
There were actually two Barbary Wars, the first was the Tripolitan War (1801–1805), the second the Algerian War (1815–1816).
- 32.
See: Joseph Wheelan, Jefferson’s War (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003); Frank Lambert, The Barbary Wars (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007).
- 33.
Ibid., Prologue and pp. 2–6.
- 34.
Ibid., 4–5 and Lambert, 123–137
- 35.
For a more detailed examination of Curtiss-Wright, see two excellent pieces by Louis Fisher: “President’s Game,” Legal Times, December 4, 2006; and “The ‘Sole Organ’ Doctrine,” Study No. 1, The Law Library of Congress, 2006–03236, August 2006.
- 36.
See: David Gray Adler and Larry N. George, The Constitution and the Conduct of American Foreign Policy (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996). (Adler and George 1996).
- 37.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency (Houghton Mifflin, 1973), 133. (Schlesinger 1973).
- 38.
See: Edward Keynes, Undeclared War: Twilight Zone of Constitution Power (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1982). (Keynes 1982).
- 39.
See: Marcus, Maeva. Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power (New York: Columbia UP, 1977). Print.
- 40.
John Yoo, The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs After 9/11 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005). Pages ix and x. See also: Memorandum opinion from John C. Yoo, Dep’y Asst. Att’y Gen., for Timothy Flaigan, Dep’y Counsel to the President, The President’s Constitutional Authority To Conduct Military Operations Against Terrorists and Nations Supporting Them (September 25, 2001), Memorandum opinion for Alberto Gonzales, Counsel to the President, Standards for Interrogation under 18 U.S. C. 2340-2340A (August 1, 2002).
- 41.
Quoted in Francis D. Wormuth and Edwin B. Firmage, To Chain the Dog of War: The War Power of Congress in History and Law (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1986), 58. (Wormuth and Firmage 1986).
- 42.
Report, 50.
- 43.
See: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., War and the American Presidency (New York: Norton, 2004), 47.
- 44.
See: Michael A. Genovese, “Bush vs Bush,” Paper presented at Hofstra University Conference on the Presidency of George W. Bush, March 2015.
- 45.
See, for example: Jack Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgement Inside the Bush Administration (Norton, 2009); and James P. Pfeffner, Power Plays: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution (Brookings, 2009).
- 46.
See: Chris Edelson, Grand Illusion; See also: Richard Pious, “Prerogative Power in the Obama Administration,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, June 2011; Robert Spitzer, “Comparing the Constitutional Presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama: War Powers, Signing Statements, Vetoes,” White House Studies, Fall 2013.
- 47.
Clinton Rossiter, “The Presidency—Focus on Leadership,” in American Government: Reading and Cases, 10th edition, ed. Peter Woll (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little Brown Higher Education, 1990), 360.
- 48.
See: John Yoo, The Powers of War and Peace (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005); and War By Other Means (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006).
- 49.
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: 1948), 137–138.
- 50.
Chris Edelson and Donna G. Starr-Declan, “Libya, Syria, ISIS, and the Case Against the Energetic Executive,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, forthcoming.
- 51.
Aaron Wildavsky, “The Two Presidencies,” Trans-actions, December 1966, 7–8.
- 52.
John H. Kessel, The Domestic Presidency (Druxbury Press, 1975).
- 53.
Spanier and Uslaner, op cit, 26.
- 54.
See: Michael A. Genovese, “Democratic Theory and the Emergency Powers of the President,” Presidential Studies Quarterly IX, No. 3, (Summer 1979).
- 55.
Clinton Rossiter, Constitutional Dictatorship: Crisis Government in the Modern Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1948). 99, 297–306.
- 56.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency (Boston: Houghton, 1973). 450–451. (Schlesinger 1973).
- 57.
Richard M. Pious, The American Presidency (New York: Basic Books, 1979), 84.
- 58.
Robert E. Di Clerico, The American President (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979), 309–310.
Select Bibliography
Adler, David Gray., and Larry N. George, eds. The Constitution and the Conduct of American Foreign Policy. Lawrence: Kansas, 1996.
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
Cronin, Thomas E. Inventing the American Presidency. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.
Keynes, Edward. Undeclared War: Twilight Zone of Constitutional Power. University Park: Pennsylvania University Press, 1982.
Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. The Imperial Presidency. Boston: Houghton Miflin, 1973.
Wormuth, Francis D. and Edwin B. Firmage. To Chain the Dog of War: The War Power of Congress in History and Law. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1986.
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Genovese, M.A., Adler, D.G. (2017). War and American Democracy. In: The War Power in an Age of Terrorism. The Evolving American Presidency. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57931-7_1
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