Declaration of war by the United States: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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For the United States, [[Article One of the United States Constitution#Section 8: Powers of Congress|Article One, Section Eight]] of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]] says "[[United States Congress|Congress]] shall have power to ... declare War." However, that passage provides no specific format for what form legislation must have in order to be considered a "[[declaration of war]]" nor does the Constitution itself use this term. In the courts, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit]], in ''[[Doe v. Bush]]'', said: "[T]he text of the [[Iraq Resolution|October Resolution]] itself spells out justifications for a war and frames itself as an 'authorization' of such a war."<ref>{{cite web |title=''DOE II III IV v. BUSH'', 03-1266, (March 13, 2003) |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1171416.html |work=FindLaw |access-date=20 June 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029215248/https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1171416.html |archive-date=October 29, 2020}}</ref> in effect saying an authorization suffices for declaration and what some may view as a formal congressional "Declaration of War" was not required by the Constitution.

The last time the United States formally declared war, using specific terminology, on any nation was in 1942, when war was declared against Axis-aligned [[AxisKingdom powers#Otherof TripartiteHungary Pact signatories|Axis(1920-allied1946)|Hungary]] Hungary, [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], and [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], because President Franklin Roosevelt thought it was improper to engage in hostilities against a country without a formal declaration of war. Since then, every American president has used military force without a declaration of war.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/declarations-of-war.htm|publisher=United States Senate|title=About Declarations of War by Congress|accessdate=19 October 2022}}</ref>

This article will use the term "formal declaration of war" to mean congressional legislation that uses the phrase "declaration of war" in the title. Elsewhere, this article will use the terms "authorized by Congress," "funded by Congress" or "undeclared war" to describe other such conflicts.