As an aside, most modern people do not realize what the phrase "declaration of war" meant back in 1776. You know, back when that document which says "The Congress shall have power to declare war..." was written. It did not mean "our ambassador goes to foreign sovereign and tells him we are at war". Not at all. In 18th century it was an accepted fact of life that sort-of-sanctioned low-level violence between sovereign states happens all the time. Somewhere in the boonies a British privateer sinks a French privateer, some native tribe beholden to Spain attacks a tribe allied with Portugal, that sort of thing. It was not "war". it was just imperial business as usual. "Declaration of war" meant that violence reached the point where traveling to, or dealing with country A would physically endanger any citizen of country B, and is to be avoided. The purpose of "declaring war" was to tell one's own citizens that "we are now at war with A, and any contact with A will imperil you". Which usually happened months after full-scale violence between A and B has erupted.
