How many times has the U.S. Congress declared war?

Question

You'll do well to have a source so I can verify the answer. Good luck... first correct answer with a source will earn ten points.

Answer 1

War of 1812, Mexican war of 1846-48, Spanish War 1898, World War I, and World War II. I dont have a source just what I have learned throughout my life and in college, congress never declared war in any other conflict, they were just actions by president, but look it up on Wikipedia. We never declared war in the Revolution so the person before me is wrong. We declared independence and we had to fight for it, we did not declare war( at least not formally) because they were factions in out government that wanted to reconcile with Britain. I do think the congress declared war on the barbary pirates but im not sure.

Answer 2

Do you want a general answer or a specific answer as to each nation?

During WWII the United States congress declared war on a number of different nations at different times. (Romania being the last actual declared war.)

So your answer is either 5 or 11 depending on how you look at it.

Just an aside to an answer, how could the US Congress declare war during the revolution when 1) there was no US Congress (which was not created until 1787 with adoption of the Constitution); and 2) there was no US then it was a part of Great Britain. Sorry it is a pet peeve of mine to claim historical events as being part of the United States prior to the actual formation of the nation. I even had a problem with that when I was in the Army and they claimed the US Army was created during the revolution...sorry for the rant.

Answer 3

We Declared War on the Barbary Pirates I think we should Declare War on Al Queda.

Answer 4

six. revolution, war of 1812, civil war, spanish -american war, world war one, world war two. every other conflict was known as police action or a cojnflict of ideas as with the indian wars which were never declared, but were wars of annihilation of the indian tribes.