The US has always been on a war footing. I contend that all the wars the US has fought have been unjustified. It started at Plymouth with the colony starting fights with natives for the sole purpose of taking their lands. We have been on a war footing almost every year since. We went from the Indian Wars in the 1880's to the Spanish American War in the 1890's. WWII was a direct result of our interference in the European WWI and allowing Germany to be humiliated and violated at the treaty of Versailles. I thought, for a while, that the Revolutionary War was justified, but since some deep reading of history I'm not even sure about that. Canada didn't have a revolution, and they are a pretty good country.