"Does anybody know how formally declared wars have been ended in the past?"
America's formally declared wars have ended upon the unconditional surrender of the other side.
The GWOT, and OIF are not congressionally declared wars, as I understand the term.
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America's formally declared wars have ended upon the unconditional surrender of the other side.
The GWOT, and OIF are not congressionally declared wars, as I understand the term.
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Yes, what I wondering was who, if any, were the civilian signatories accepting the surrender.
And you are, of course, correct that this is a congressional war powers act approved military action instead of a formal war. But I wondering about how wars end to try to extrapolate if it should even be possible for congress to end a war (or combat action, in this case).
I think congress would argue that since the War Powers requires the President to report no "less often than once every six months" that it means they are entitled to do something about it if they don't like what is reported.
I'm also pretty sure the President would argue the other way since all Presidents since 1973 have taken the position that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional and that they have just chosen to not force the issue.