US Presidency
1848

When Congress has declared that war exists with a foreign nation, the general laws of war apply to our situation, and it becomes the duty of the President, as the constitutional Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, to prosecute it. In prosecuting a foreign war thus duly declared by Congress, we have the right, by conquest and military occupation, to acquire possession of the territories of the enemy, and, during the war, to exercise the fullest rights of sovereignty over it. The sovereignty of the enemy is in such case suspended, and his laws can no longer be rightfully enforced over the conquered territory or be obligatory upon the inhabitants who remain and submit to the conqueror. By the surrender the inhabitants pass under a temporary allegiance to the conqueror, and are bound by such laws, and such only, as he may choose to recognize and impose.