America and the Just War Tradition

A History of U.S. Conflicts

Mark David Hall, J. Daryl Charles, Mark David Hall, J. Daryl Charles

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780268105266, 9780268105259
• eBook ISBN: 9780268105280
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

America and the Just War Tradition examines and evaluates each of America's major wars from a just war perspective. Using moral analysis that is anchored in the just war tradition, the contributors provide careful historical analysis evaluating individual conflicts.

Each chapter explores the causes of a particular war, the degree to which the justice of the conflict was a subject of debate at the time, and the extent to which the war measured up to traditional ad bellum and in bello criteria. Where appropriate, contributors offer post bellum considerations, insofar as justice is concerned with helping to offer a better peace and end result than what had existed prior to the conflict.

This fascinating exploration offers policy guidance for the use of force in the world today, and will be of keen interest to historians, political scientists, philosophers, and theologians, as well as policy makers and the general reading public.

Contributors: J. Daryl Charles, Darrell Cole, Timothy J. Demy, Jonathan H. Ebel, Laura Jane Gifford, Mark David Hall, Jonathan Den Hartog, Daniel Walker Howe, Kerry E. Irish, James Turner Johnson, Gregory R. Jones, Mackubin Thomas Owens, John D. Roche, and Rouven Steeves

INDEX

Abraham Lincoln (Guelzo), 117

Abrams, Creighton, 243, 244

Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), 288–89

Acheson, Dean, 206, 207, 208, 209, 214, 215, 219, 223n6

Adams, John, 53, 81

Adams, John Quincy, 89, 104

Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum (papal encyclical), 159, 160, 163, 168, 172

Address of the Minority to Their Constituents, on the Subject of War with Great-Britain, An (Quincy and Bayard), 83

aerial warfare

civilian casualties, 241, 242

damage caused by, 241

evaluation of, 240

principle of “double effect,” 242

restriction of, 240, 242

Afghanistan

child mortality, 283

interim government, 281

Northern Alliance, 281

prospects for peace, 288

restoration of infrastructure, 287

status of women in, 283, 286–87

Taliban rule, 283, 285

war on terror in, 280–82

Afghan war

Battle of Tora Bora, 281

civilian casualties, 286, 287

collateral damage, 285

criterion of just authority, 284

criterion of proportionality, 286

ius ad bellum criterion, 285

ius in bello criterion, 285–86, 287

ius post bellum criterion, 287–88

as just war, perception of, 282–88

last resort criterion, 284–85

outcome of, 286–87

question of legality of, 284

Taliban insurgency, 281–82

U.S. objectives in, 285

Aguinaldo y Famy, Emilio, 147

Ahlstrom, Sydney, 51

Alaska, U.S. acquisition of, 98

al-Qaeda, 281, 288, 291

American Civil War

“Anaconda Plan,” 126

assessment of, 125–26

background, 117–19

causes of, 118, 120, 122, 127

conduct of armies in, 122–23

cost of, 132

Fort Pillow incident, 123, 124, 127

historiography of, 115–16, 125–26

Jackson’s retreat to Richmond, 124

justification of, 32, 114–15, 116, 119–22, 125, 132

life in the South after, 128

outcome of, 127–28, 131–32

role of Christian religion in, 116, 121, 122, 124

Sherman’s March to the Sea, 123, 124–25, 126, 127

slavery and, 116–17

split between North and South, 120

as total war, 126

treatment of civilians during, 124, 125–26

violence, 123–24, 127

American colonies

dispute over taxation of, 53–57, 59, 71n35

sermons on opposition to tyranny in, 52–53

American Duties Act (1764), 54

American Revolutionary War

atrocities of, 66–67

Battle of Bemis Heights, 64–65

battles at Lexington, 57, 60–61

casualties, 59

causes of, 50–51

Continental Army, 61, 63, 65, 68

foreign support, 63

invasion of Canada, 61, 68

ius ad bellum criterion, 63, 68

ius in bello criterion, 65–67

ius post bello criterion, 67–68

justification of, 31, 58–59, 60, 61–62

militia forces, 72n46

Paoli Massacre, 64

peace treaty, 67, 68

protection of property during, 65

siege of Boston, 61

treatment of prisoners, 63–64

America’s wars

Christian perspective on, 38n5

components of, 138

historiography, 1–3

just war tradition and, 3, 30

moral scrutiny of, 2, 3

with Native American tribes, 30

overview, 29–36

reflection on meaning of, 27–29

small interventions, 30

Anabaptism, 39n11

Annan, Kofi, 255, 284

Aristotle, on virtue of prudence, 91

Arnold, Benedict, 67

Aroostook War, 35

Asgill, Charles, 65

Atlantic Charter, 193, 197

Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

on expression of caritas, 8

on just war, x, 9, 42n29

on retribution, 15

on serving in military, 16

on tranquility of ord...

Table of contents

• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• ONE The Just War Tradition and America’s Wars
• TWO “Fear, Honor, and Interest”: The Unjust Motivations and Outcomes of the American Revolutionary War
• THREE The War of 1812
• FOUR James K. Polk and the War with Mexico
• FIVE The Fractured Union and the Justification for War
• SIX Just War and the Spanish-American War
• SEVEN The Great War, the United States, and Just War Thought
• EIGHT The United States and Japan in the Second World War: A Just War Perspective
• NINE America’s Ambiguous “Police Action”: The Korean Conflict
• TEN Vietnam and the Just War Tradition
• ELEVEN The First and Second Gulf Wars
• TWELVE The War on Terror and Afghanistan
• Contributors
• Index