Thoughts on "Presidential war power" from a Republican President: discuss

Representative Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to William H. Herndon, stated:

"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose - - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose. If, to-day, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us' but he will say to you 'be silent; I see it, if you don't.' "

OK, I fudged a bit--- he wasn't President when he wrote it.

Cheers! :hi:

was about to start the war on Mexico.

thank you so much for this timeless quote. I couldn't agree with Abe more. Oh, and I'd add that in this day and age, a neigboring nation is any nation in the world.

:hi:

That's the last time we declared war. Congress has abdicated its responsibility ever since. The War Powers Act - merely codified their political cowardice.

Most of Lincoln's policies are in line with the modern Democratic ideals. Strong central government, along with his views on race, etc. After all, the Dems were the conservatives, and the Republicans were the liberals until the early 20th century, I think.