![handle is hein.crs/goveqtu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The Declare War Clause, Part 2: Historical
Background, Drafting, and Ratification
September 30, 2024
This Legal Sidebar is the second part of an eight-part series that discusses the Declare War Clause in
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power To declare War,
grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water[.] The
power to take the nation to war is a central element of the Constitution's scheme of war powers, but
interpretation of the Declare War Clause is complex and evolving. This Sidebar series discusses the
Supreme Court's jurisprudence related to declarations of war and highlights interbranch practices that
illuminate the executive and legislative branches' sometimes differing interpretations of the clause.
Additional information on Congress's war powers and the President's powers as Commander-in-Chief can
be found in the Constitution Annotated.
War Powers Before the Constitution
Congress's authority to declare war has its antecedents in Britain and in Colonial America. Under the
British system of government, most essential war powers were lodged in a single individual-the
Monarch. The power of making war or peace was the sole prerogative of the Crown, and the Monarch
was the first in command of British military forces. Great Britain also traditionally allowed its monarchs
to raise and support arnies; however, by the end of the 17th century, Parliament controlled appropriations
of funds for the military, and the Crown agreed not to maintain a standing army during peacetime without
parliamentary consent.
In pre-revolutionary America, many colonial charters granted certain war powers, such as the power to
defend the colony from invasion or armed attack, to colonial governments. When the American
independence movement emerged in the 1770s, colonists formed militias at the local and state level, and
revolutionary state assemblies passed laws organizing the militias and mandating service for some
segments of the population. During this period, the Second Continental Congress coordinated the militias
at the national level. The Second Continental Congress appointed George Washington Commander-in-
Chief and called upon Americans to take up arms and organize themselves into militia units. The Second
Continental Congress also adopted a set of declarations and petitions to the British Crown culminating in
the Declaration of Independence-a document that shares elements in common with 18th century
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB11231
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveqtu0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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