The Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the U.S., and Jefferson didn’t wait for Congress to respond. All he did was informed Congress of what he did in response. Congress never officially declared war against Tripoli or any of the Barbary Pirates.
“The Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the U.S.,”
If they declare war on us then there’s no need for a Congressional declaration of war. If you’ll notice, Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t declare war on us. The terrorists did, but then they’re not a nation. We should have dealt with them using covert ops.