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To: Publius

I don’t know. On one hand I agree with much of this as there really can be no constitutional limits to the military power of a country. On the other hand I have a hard time reading much of Madison’s writing on the purity of his reasoning given his role in the silly War of 1812. There were some good reasons for the war but some silly reasons too like our misunderstanding of Napoleon’s statements and our own diplomatic miscommunications.

The Battle of New Orleans is emblematic of the war of 1812, i.e. fought a month after the war was over.

We’ve struggled with this problem of how to constitutionally limit a national government’s military power for many years with the War Powers Act being perhaps the dumbest thing we’ve come up with. In the end, I think the only solution is a well informed public more inclined to be reluctant than to ask for war.


6 posted on 08/09/2010 4:58:53 PM PDT by MontaniSemperLiberi
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To: MontaniSemperLiberi
Have you read States' Rights and the Union, by Forrest McDonald? It's the definitive book on federalism. His pages on the War of 1812 are exceptional.
9 posted on 08/10/2010 1:39:15 PM PDT by Publius (Unless the Constitution is followed, it is simply a piece of paper.)
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