HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 10

(By Delegates McGeehan, Householder, Hamilton, Storch and Faircloth)

Requesting that the President and Congress of the United States of America take no action to call the West Virginia National Guard into active duty combat unless the United States Congress has passed an official declaration of war or has taken an official action pursuant to Article I, § 8, Clause 15 of the United States Constitution to explicitly call forth the state militia to execute the laws of the union, repel an invasion or suppress an insurrection.

            Whereas, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States vests in the United States Congress the exclusive power of war; and

            Whereas, In spite of the clear language of the United States Constitution, vesting the power over war exclusively in the United States Congress, the United States Executive branch has unconstitutionally assumed that power while the United States Congress has abdicated its constitutional duty; and

            Whereas, Although the United States Congress has not declared war in over seventy years, the nation has since gone to war repeatedly at the whim of the Executive branch; and

            Whereas, When such unconstitutional actions are taken by the federal government, it is the proper role of the states themselves to take action to remedy such situations, as outlined in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798; and

            Whereas, A founder of this country, George Washington, once wrote "The Constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure"; and

            Whereas, The Father of the Constitution, James Madison, once wrote: "The Constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war to the Legislature"; and

            Whereas, The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, once wrote "We have already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body. . ." and "Considering that Congress alone is constitutionally invested with the power of changing our condition from peace to war, I have thought it my duty to await their authority for using force in any degree which could be avoided"; and

            Whereas, Another constitutional framer, Alexander Hamilton, once wrote: "The Congress shall have the power to declare war; the plain meaning of which is, that it is the peculiar and exclusive duty of Congress, when the nation is at peace, to change that state into a state of war. . ."; therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

            That the State of West Virginia hereby respectfully urges that the President and Congress of the United States of America take no action to call the West Virginia National Guard into active duty combat unless the United States Congress has passed an official declaration of war or has taken an official action pursuant to Article I, § 8, Clause 15 of the United States Constitution to explicitly call forth the state militia to execute the laws of the union, repel an invasion or suppress an insurrection; and, be it

            Further Resolved, That the State of West Virginia forward official copies of the resolution to the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered into the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.