Crucially, the Clauseĭoes not grant any exclusive authority over peacetime operations or even theĬonduct of war. Only the constrained powers of a general and admiral. The Army and Navy lacks a vast arsenal of military authority but instead possesses President is nothing more than a chief commander, or what Alexander HamiltonĬalled the “first General and Admiral.” The Commander in Chief of Rather than being a sui generis military potentate, the By borrowing aįamiliar expression, the Constitution incorporated the modest, contemporaryĬonception. ![]() Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenthĬenturies, there were, at any one time, a multitude of British and AmericanĬommanders in chief, and both assemblies and other military officials consistentlyĭirected these commanders, often in quite intrusive ways. In contrast to modern assumptions, the Article reveals thatĮighteenth-century commanders in chief enjoyed neither sole nor supremeĪuthority over the military. Orthodox reading of the Clause and demarcates the Clause’s elusiveįrontiers. ![]() In particular, establishing the Clause’s limits is an acute and persistent problem.Įighteenth-century understandings as a yardstick, this Article topples the Yet, seemingly paradoxically, proponents of this stance cannot say where the Commander in Chief’s power beginsĪnd ends. Some measure of absolute and unchallengeable authority upon the President. Such readings, the meaning of “commander in chief” is as obvious as it is unequivocal-it confers By some lights, the Clause not only equips the President with exclusive control over military operations, but also conveys the powers to start wars,Ĭreate military courts, direct and remove officers, and wield emergency wartime powers. President with a panoply of martial powers. The conventional wisdom is that the Commander-in-Chief Clause arms the
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