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handle is hein.crs/goveqtq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The Declare War Clause, Part 6: The Spanish-
American War and First and Second World
Wars
September 30, 2024
This Legal Sidebar is the sixth 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 by Congress and highlights interbranch
practices that illuminate the executive and legislative branches' sometimes differing interpretations of the
clause. This Sidebar focuses on the implications of authorizing language found in declarations of war
issued in World War I and World War II, which differed from the language used in the 1898 declaration of
war against Spain and earlier declarations. Additional information on Congress's war powers and the
President's powers as Commander-in-Chief can be found in the Constitution Annotated.
The Spanish-American War
The United States declared war on Spain in 1898 following a Cuban insurrection against Spanish rule and
the sinking of the USS Maine in the harbor outside Havana. The war did not give rise to major Supreme
Court decisions addressing the meaning of the Declare War Clause, but it did lead to other constitutional
questions, such as how the Constitution would apply to the territories that the United States acquired from
Spain at the close of the war, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Other elements of the
war and its aftermath, such as the U.S. acquisition of a long-term land lease in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
and interrogation techniques in American-annexed Philippines, would set the stage for later Supreme
Court cases in the post-September 11, 2001, era.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB11235
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and

Committees of Congress