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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10267 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 10267—Declaring Certain Lands in the Nantahala National Forest

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Tuesday, July 3, 1951
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2 min read (456 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (456 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby include in and reserve as part of the Nantahala National Forest the following-described lands, such inclusion and reservation to be in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of the said agreement of March 22, 1951, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Harry S Truman on July 3, 1951, this order concerns Declaring Certain Lands in the Nantahala National Forest. I hereby include in and reserve as part of the Nantahala National Forest the following-described lands, such inclusion and reservation to be in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of the said agreement of March 22, 1951, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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I hereby include in and reserve as part of the Nantahala National Forest the following-described lands, such inclusion and reservation to be in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of the said agreement of March 22, 1951, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture.

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LANDS INCLUDED IN THE NANTAHALA NATIONAL FOREST TRACT 6 A tract of land lying the Nantahala Forneys Creek, and Charleston Townships of swain County, State of North Carolina, on the east shores of the Little Tennessee and Nantahala River Arms of Fontana Lake and on the south shores of the Tuckasegee River Arm of the lake, and extending from a point on the Tuckasegee River Arm approximately 5 miles upstream from its confluence with the Little Tennessee River Arm, and being more particularly described as follows: Beginning at a point (Coordinates: N. 644,119; E. 661,436) in the center line of Laurel Branch and in the US-TVA Purchase Boundary, the said point being witnessed by an iron pipe and hemlock stump and being approximately 1,825 feet…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)

Mason would scrutinize whether this federal directive intrudes into police powers, land stewardship, or municipal domains historically reserved to local citizens. The Anti-Federalist demand is that federal administration must never supplant state self-governance.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
23 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
456
2,706 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
25.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS on March 22, 1951, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture entered into an agreement (designated as a supplemental agreement of transfer) providing for the transfer by the said Authority to the said Department of the right of possession and all other right, title, and interest which the Authority might have in or to certain lands therein designated and described in Swain County, North Carolina so that such lands might be included in and reserved as a part of the Nantahala National Forest, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement and subject to the approval thereof by the President of the United States; and WHEREAS I have this day approved the said agreement between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture; and WHEREAS it appears that such lands are suitable for national-forest purposes and that the inclusion of such lands in the Nantahala National Forest would be in the public interest:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 1103, and the act of June 4, 1897, 30 Stat. 34, 36 (16 U.S.C. 471, 473), and as President of the United States and upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, I hereby include in and reserve as part of the Nantahala National Forest the following-described lands, such inclusion and reservation to be in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of the said agreement of March 22, 1951, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture. LANDS INCLUDED IN THE NANTAHALA NATIONAL FOREST TRACT 6 A tract of land lying the Nantahala Forneys Creek, and Charleston Townships of swain County, State of North Carolina, on the east shores of the Little Tennessee and Nantahala River Arms of Fontana Lake and on the south shores of the Tuckasegee River Arm of the lake, and extending from a point on the Tuckasegee River Arm approximately 5 miles upstream from its confluence with the Little Tennessee River Arm, and being more particularly described as follows: Beginning at a point (Coordinates: N. 644,119; E. 661,436) in the center line of Laurel Branch and in the US-TVA Purchase Boundary, the said point being witnessed by an iron pipe and hemlock stump and being approximately 1,825 feet upstream from the mount of Laurel Branch in the Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, the mouth of Laurel Branch being approximately 3 ½ miles downstream along the Tucksegee River Arm from Bryson City. From the initial point with the US-TVA Purchase Boundary, N 12o 21' W, 636 feet to an iron pipe; HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

July 3, 1951

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,267 (July 3, 1951), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10267-declaring-certain-lands-the-nantahala-national-forest.