000			02509cam a2200229 4500
001			24059
005			20230410123413.0
008			060907s2005 nyu eng
020			_a0805075933
082			_a9780805075939
035			_9funglode24234
041			_aeng
050	1	4	_aK 3344 _bI71w 2005
100	1		_aIrons, Peter H., _d1940-
245	1	0	_aWar powers : _bhow the imperial presidency hijacked the Constitution / _cPeter Irons
260			_aNew York : _bMetropolitan Books, _c2005
300			_ax, 303 p. ; _c24 cm.
505	0		_aIn the beginning: "the power of war and peace" -- "Not only war but public war": congressional authority in the new nation -- "A war unjust and unnecessary": seizing a continental empire -- "The great exigencies of government": the Civil War -- "Remember the Maine": the birth of imperial America -- "We must have no criticism now": the war to end all wars -- "The sole organ of the nation": the birth of the imperial presidency -- "The very bring of constitutional power": Japanese Americans and German saboteurs -- "A world-wide American empire": the imperial presidency in the Cold War -- "What every schoolboy knows": Vietnam and congressional abdication -- "We were going to war": from the Gulf War to Afghanistan -- "We will not hesitate to act alone": the American colossus in the age of preemptive war -- "The constitution is just a piece of paper": empire vs. democracy.
520			_aThis book examines a fundamental question in the development of the American empire: What constraints does the Constitution place on our territorial expansion, military intervention, occupation of foreign countries, and on the power the president may exercise over American foreign policy? Worried about the dangers of unchecked executive power, the Founding Fathers deliberately assigned Congress the sole authority to make war. But the last time Congress declared war was on December 8, 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Since then, every president from Harry Truman to George W. Bush has used military force in pursuit of imperial objectives, while Congress and the Supreme Court have virtually abdicated their responsibilities to check presidential power. Legal historian Irons recounts this story of subversion from above, tracing presidents' increasing willingness to ignore congressional authority and even suspend civil liberties.--From publisher description.
650		0	_aWar and emergency powers _zUnited States _xHistory
942			_2lcc _cbk
999			_c60751 _d60751