ABSTRACT
The idea that in war time Congress sits back while the President takes charge of national affairs, both civil and military, as a kind of general dictator has become so familiar since 1941 that we tend to take it for granted as a constitutional axiom. After the Civil War, the presidential "war power" slumbered for another seventy-five years until 1940-1941. The President will have only the occasional command of such part of the militia of the nation as by legislative provision may be called into the actual service of the Union. The king of Great Britain and the governor of New York have at all times the entire command of all the militia within their several jurisdictions. The decentralized militia organization of the armed forces would thus spread and fragmentize, under normal circumstances, the total military and war power of the nation, guarding against an executive tyranny springing from control of the sword.
