History Supports Trump’s Operation To Take Down Maduro

Last week, the Senate passed by a vote of 52-47 a provisional war powers resolution that would stop President Donald Trump from deploying the U.S. armed forces into hostilities within or against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress. The resolution would still need to be passed by the Republican-led House, and Trump has already signaled he would not sign it, but it shows some unease among legislators after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a nighttime raid. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a sponsor of the measure, stated that it was “long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade.”

Trump isn’t the first president to unilaterally order U.S. forces abroad to overthrow a regime he didn’t like. And once again, as repeatedly in American history, we are seeing a constitutional battle between Congress and the president over the power to order U.S. armed forces into hostilities. The long history of this contest suggests that Trump is on firm ground when he orders troops into combat — even without congressional approval.

The first time a president sent armed forces abroad without advance approval by Congress was in 1800, barely a decade after the adoption of the Constitution. President John Adams ordered the Navy to aid Toussaint L’Ouverture’s rebellion against France in Santo Domingo. Our forces blockaded and bombarded the port of Jacmel, controlled by Toussaint’s rival. Two years earlier, Congress had authorized the seizure of French vessels in the so-called Quasi War with France, but it did not sanction attacks on French possessions such as Santo Domingo.

In 1801, Congress was not even in session when President Thomas Jefferson dispatched a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean. He ordered the fleet to meet with force hostility from the Barbary nations of North Africa to “best protect our commerce and chastise their insolence — by sinking, burning or destroying their ships and Vessels wherever you shall find them.” Although fighting did not take place on this occasion, the American ships blockaded two Tripolitan vessels anchored at Gibraltar, an act of war.