Any topic (writer’s choice)

You will choose two military conflicts (large or small, declared or undeclared) (from the list attached below as a PDF and should be mentioned in the attached readings as well)  in which the United States has been engaged and answer a series of questions about that conflict. You will make an argument about whether it was a constitutionally legitimate use of force.

1. Make an argument (in one paragraph) about what enables a constitutionally, legally, politically legitimate use of force in the American Constitutional System. (You may consider moral or ethical arguments, but they must be answered in addition to the legal/political/constitutional question).

2. Choose TWO incidents in which the federal government of the United States has used force against foreign citizens or nations. Find one case that exemplifies the way you think the system should work, and one case that exemplifies the way you think the system should not work. (The PDF below should be used to find the two incidents)

3. For each case, research the basic legal and political history of the incident. Your research must include (but should not be limited to)
a. at least two presidential primary source documents (public statements, messages to Congress) (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ ),
b. two primary source congressional documents (authorizations, appropriations, hearing transcripts, votes, speeches) (https://www.congress.gov/ ). Court decisions are also acceptable if appropriate.
c. Analyze the politics of each case. In no more than one page per incident, explain why the constitutional processes work, while you argue each use of force was legitimate or illegitimate.

note: you don’t need to use all of the attached sources, only what is necessary.

please only use the primary sources attached. no secondary/outside sources allowed.

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