War in the Constitutional Thought of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution

Founding Fathers occupy a unique place among political thinkers of the Eighteenth Century, mostly because their views on constitutional issues are of substantial importance in the modern interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. The subject of war has played an important role in their constitutional debates. On the one hand, historical examples of past republics have taught them that wars pose a grave threat to any republican government, but on the other, their own experience from the Revolutionary War made it clear to them that the constitutional framework must provide for effective conduct of military operations. In search for balance between efficiency and checks, they have divided the war powers between Congress – authorized to declare war – and the President – charged with conducting it. However, exact delimitation of the authorities of the two branches in the field of war-making has been a subject of numerous controversies among the Framers, both during the constitutional debates and in the first years of the new Union. Those debates remain relevant today and should provide an important starting point in the present-day controversies about relationship between presidential and congressional war powers.

Fundacja Studentów i Absolwentów Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego "Bratniak"