Quasi-War

Today a caller stated that the so-called Quasi war (Franco-American war) showed that Congress does not have to "Declare War," they can just authorize the Use of Force.
This has been used by some to claim the Iraq war was just, even though Congress never Declared War.

Here is an article on the subject. You should note that Congress's Authorization was not used as flippantly as it is used today. And America was under attack, which was not the case in Iraq.

Quasi War

Here you can actually read the Authorization from Congress.

An act to further protect the commerce of the United states

Thomas Woods had this to say about it:

Supporters of a broad executive war power have sometimes appealed to the Quasi War with France, in the closing years of the eighteenth century, as an example of unilateral warmaking on the part of the president. Francis Wormuth, an authority on war powers and the Constitution, describes that contention as "altogether false." John Adams "took absolutely no independent action. Congress passed a series of acts that amounted, so the Supreme Court said, to a declaration of imperfect war; and Adams complied with these statutes."
Consider an interesting and revealing incident that occurred during the Quasi War. Congress authorized the president to seize vessels sailing to French ports. But President Adams, acting on his own authority and without the sanction of Congress, instructed American ships to capture vessels sailing either to or from French ports. Captain George Little, acting under the authority of Adams' order, seized a Danish ship sailing from a French port. When Little was sued for damages, the case made its way to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Captain Little could indeed be sued for damages in the case. "In short," writes Louis Fisher in summary, "congressional policy announced in a statute necessarily prevails over inconsistent presidential orders and military actions. Presidential orders, even those issued as Commander in Chief, are subject to restrictions imposed by Congress."