Seventy-five years ago today, Congress declared war on Japan. U.S. declarations of war against Germany and Italy followed four days later, and Congress hasn’t declared war since.

Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Granada, Kosovo, Bosnia, Yemen, Lebanon, Panama, Somalia — America fought its wars in all these places without an official declaration. Usually Congress passed some sort of authorization, but often, most recently in Libya, even that step was skipped.