I’m studying for my Political Science class and need an explanation.

Please reply to the question and comment constructively on a classmates’ posting.

Question

Q: Revisit Issue: “Does the President Have Unilateral War Powers?”

We should have some interesting debate in here. Address the arguments that you may finds in any credible sources. Cite. This is, of course, relevant and related to some other topics in this unit.

Here is classmate’s posting from question. Please reply in 1st person point of view.

Classmate’s post

According to Roos. “The U.S constitution is clear about which branch of government has the power to declare war. In Article I sec. 8 the Constitution states that congress shall have the power. To declare war, American presidents have claims the right to launch military attacks without congressional approval. (Roos., 2020). The history of war power has been a dispute between branches about the meaning of war. When the constitution was being written and debated, the Framers clearly wanted to break from British political tradition of investing all war powers in the executive, but they knew legislatures would be dangerously slow to respond to immediate military threats, so instead of granting congress the power to make war, Founder changes the language to declare war. (Roos,2020), According to Understanding American Politics. “The U.S constitution was carefully crafted to allow much room for judgement. In matters of war, the powers to declare war does lie with congress.”(Bresler, Freidrich et al. p.492. 2020). Congress has used that power only 5 times. On the other hand, the power to make war clearly belongs to the commander in chief, and we do not have but one commander in chief at a time. The Constitution vests with congress the power to declare war. The power to initiate and wage war has shifted to the executive branch. All changes in post Vietnam era. Congress is more inclined to assert itself on operational matters and to criticize the president on delicate matters of state. All this underscores the political danger inherent in foreign military operations.” (Bresler, Fredrich et al. p. 492. 2020).

Work Cited

Bresler, Freidrich et al. “Understanding American Politics.” p. 492. 2020.

Roos, Dave. “U.S Presidents and Congress Have Long Clashed Over War Powers.”

Library of Congress 2020.