Presidential War Powers

[Morton Thomson Jr.]

In Article II of the Constitution it states that the President is the Commander in Chief when he is called into service by Congress. Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 – “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;”.

The authors of the Constitution wanted the people through their Representatives to be responsible for declaring war. The Framers wanted the power to wage war in the hands of a free people who would elect Representatives of good character to carry out their wishes. They knew that if they granted the President the unlimited power to wage war, it would be potentially dangerous. That is why the President is only lawfully authorized to declare or wage war by Congress or as an emergency response to acts of aggression. In addition, war can only be declared on another country, not a band of individuals.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, FDR did not need to wait for Congress to declare war or authorize him to assume the role of Commander in Chief. The President is authorized to defend the nation, but he is not authorized to use the military to attack or invade another country without an official declaration of war.

It was not the intention of our founders to grant unlimited power to the President to wage war, if it had been they would have expressed it in Article II, Section 2.

The war powers clause indicates that the Presidential power to be Commander in Chief is authorized only when he is “called into the actual Service” of the country by the people through an act in Congress.

A dictator has unlimited power to wage war. The President of a Constitutional Republic does not. The President's power does not include the power to start wars. His power to wage war is limited to permission from the people and only after it has been officially declared by Congress.