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Executive Order 10309 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10309—Restoring Possession, Use, and Control of Certain Lands Reserved for Military Purposes to the Territory of Hawaii and Transferring Title to Such Lands to the Territory

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Monday, December 3, 1951
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10 min read (2,079 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 10 min read (2,079 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Upon the fulfillment of the conditions precedent specified in Part II of this order and the certification thereof by the Department of the Army as provided in such Part, and without further act, the possession, use, and control of the two following-described tracts of land comprising a portion of the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation, Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, shall be restored to the Territory of Hawaii, and title to the said tracts shall be transferred to the said Territory: Beginning at a lead plug at the west corner of this piece of land, on the southeasterly side of Channel Street, the coordinates of said point of beginning referred to Government Survey triangulation station "Punchbowl" being 4,412.22 feet south and…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments 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 December 3, 1951, this order concerns Restoring Possession, Use, and Control of Certain Lands Reserved for Military Purposes to the Territory of Hawaii and Transferring Title to Such Lands to the Territory. Upon the fulfillment of the conditions precedent specified in Part II of this order and the certification thereof by the Department of the Army as provided in such Part, and without further act, the possession, use, and control of the two following-described tracts of land comprising a portion of the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation, Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, shall be restored to the Territory of…

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Upon the fulfillment of the conditions precedent specified in Part II of this order and the certification thereof by the Department of the Army as provided in such Part, and without further act, the possession, use, and control of the two following-described tracts of land comprising a portion of the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation, Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, shall be restored to the Territory of Hawaii, and title to the said tracts shall be transferred to the said Territory: Beginning at a lead plug at the west corner of this piece of land, on the southeasterly side of Channel Street, the coordinates of said point of beginning referred to Government Survey triangulation station "Punchbowl" being 4,412.22 feet south and…

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Excepting and excluding from the above-described property the land which was transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War (now Secretary of the Army) by letter of the Secretary of Labor (Immigration Service) dated December 16, 1939, pursuant to the act of Congress approved August 5, 1939, 53 Stat. 1209, and containing 6,920 square feet or 0.16 acre.

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The Territory of Hawaii shall replace the existing bakery and that portion of the warehouse (combined Buildings T-28 and T-29) located on the land described in Part I hereof by remodeling and increasing the capacity of the existing bakery at the Schofield Barracks Military Reservation. 2.

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The Territory of Hawaii shall completely raze the existing warehouse (combined Buildings T-28 and T-29) and remove all debris. 3.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
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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

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

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.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
35 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

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

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

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 within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

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
2,079
12,655 characters
Estimated Read Time
10 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
14.5
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.33
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS a tract of land at Kaakaukukui, Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, which forms a part of the public lands ceded and transferred to the United States by the Republic of Hawaii under the joint resolution of annexation of July 7, 1898 (30 Stat. 750), was reserved for military purposes by a series of Executive orders (enumerated in Executive Order No. 5487 of November 14, 1930) describing the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation; and WHEREAS an additional tract of land which forms a part of the public land ceded and transferred to the United States by the Republic of Hawaii under the said joint resolution of annexation was set aside for addition of the said reservation by Executive Order No. 864 of October 13, 1939, of the Governor of the Territory of Hawaii; and WHEREAS that portion of the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation described in Part I of this order is needed by the Territory of Hawaii for a harbor-improvement project; and WHEREAS it is deemed desirable and in the public interest that the possession, use, and control of the said portion be restored to the Territory of Hawaii, and that title thereto be transferred to said Territory:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 91 of the act of April 30, 1900, 31 Stat. 159, as amended by section 7 of the act of May 27, 1910, 36 Stat. 447, it is ordered as follows: PART I Upon the fulfillment of the conditions precedent specified in Part II of this order and the certification thereof by the Department of the Army as provided in such Part, and without further act, the possession, use, and control of the two following-described tracts of land comprising a portion of the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation, Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, shall be restored to the Territory of Hawaii, and title to the said tracts shall be transferred to the said Territory: Beginning at a lead plug at the west corner of this piece of land, on the southeasterly side of Channel Street, the coordinates of said point of beginning referred to Government Survey triangulation station "Punchbowl" being 4,412.22 feet south and 5,678.39 feet west, thence running by azimuths measured clockwise from true south: 1. 219° 00'00" 154.09 feet along the southeasterly side of Channel Street; thence along Channel Street, on a curve to the right with a radius of 20.00 feet, the chord azimuth and distance being: 2. 264° 00'00" 28.28 feet; 3. 309° 00'00" 172.16 feet along same, along U.S. Immigration Station; 4. 38° 48'30" 270.86 feet along the remainder of Tract No. 1 of Fort Armstrong Military Reservation; 5. 128° 48'30" 25.98 feet along U.S. Public Health Station (Public Law 105, 81st Congress, dated June 16, 1949); 6. 218° 58'20" 96.70 feet along same; 7. 129° 03'00" 167.01 feet along U.S. Public Health Station (Public Law 105, 81st Congress, dated June 16, 1949) to the point of beginning and containing an areas of 35,932 square feet or 0.82 acre. Excepting and excluding from the above-described property the land which was transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War (now Secretary of the Army) by letter of the Secretary of Labor (Immigration Service) dated December 16, 1939, pursuant to the act of Congress approved August 5, 1939, 53 Stat. 1209, and containing 6,920 square feet or 0.16 acre. TRACT No. 2 Beginning at the west corner of this piece of land, on the southeasterly side of the Honolulu Harbor Line, the coordinates of said point of beginning referred to Government Survey triangulation station "Punchbowl" being 3,930.19 feet south and 5,637.61 feet west, thence running by azimuths measured clockwise from true south: 1. 219° 00' 214.12 feet along the Honolulu Harbor Line; 2. 279° 46' 116.48 feet; 3. 322° 20' 198.34 feet along a fence to concrete monument No. 1; 4. 39° 00' 224.88 feet along the northwesterly side of Channel Street to a brass plate; 5. 129° 00' 294.63 feet along Channel Street, along Pier No. 2, and passing over brass plate No. 3 at 192.99 feet, to the point of beginning and containing an area of 72,432 square feet or 1.66 acres. PART II 1. The Territory of Hawaii shall replace the existing bakery and that portion of the warehouse (combined Buildings T-28 and T-29) located on the land described in Part I hereof by remodeling and increasing the capacity of the existing bakery at the Schofield Barracks Military Reservation. 2. The Territory of Hawaii shall completely raze the existing warehouse (combined Buildings T-28 and T-29) and remove all debris. 3. The Territory of Hawaii shall relocate all Department of the Army utility lines running through the site of the proposed Territorial Pier 2 Expansion Project and shall grant perpetual easements for all such utility lines as relocated. 4. The Territory of Hawaii shall replace the existing boundary fence and gates by erecting a new fence along the revised boundary, with entrance driveways and gates as required by the Department of the Army. 5. The Territory of Hawaii shall replace the Honolulu District Engineer's Boathouse now located at Pier 2A by constructing a new boathouse at Pier 1, the boathouse area to be inclosed with steel sheet piling or equivalent protection against the open sea. 6. The Territory of Hawaii shall make the necessary alternations in the present Post Exchange and Cafeteria Building located on Fort Armstrong Military Reservation to accommodate the District Engineer Laboratories now located at Pier 2A. 7. The Territory of Hawaii shall replace the remaining facilities now located at Pier 2A by construction an office and armory building at Fort DeRussy Military Reservation. 8. The Territory of Hawaii (and not the Department of the Army) shall make any arrangements that may be necessary with the General Services Administration (as to property occupied by the Public Health Service) or the Department of Justice (as to property occupied by the Immigration and Naturalization Service) with respect to any rights or interest in any lands now under the jurisdiction of the said Administration or Department affected by the proposed Territorial Pier 2 Expansion Project. 9. None of the above-described construction of new facilities or alteration of existing facilities shall be at the expense of the Department of the Army. 10. The Territory of Hawaii shall bear all expenses in connection with the preparation of final plans and specifications for the construction and alteration work outlined above; the plans and specifications shall be based on preliminary plans prepared by the District Engineer in conjunction with Headquarters, United States Army, Pacific, in May 1949, copies of which have been furnished to representatives of the Territory of Hawaii (except that preliminary plans for altering the Post Exchange and Cafeteria Building at the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation, furnished to the Territory of Hawaii in January 1950, shall be substituted for the earlier plans for replacement of laboratory facilities); final plans and specifications for each item shall be approved by the Department of the Army before the start of construction or alteration work on each item; and the order of priority of each item shall be subject to the joint approval of the Department of the Army and the District Engineer. At the request of the Territory of Hawaii, the Department of the Army, acting by and through the Commanding General, United States Army, Pacific, prior to final acceptance by the Territory of any item of work which has been performed under a contract between the Territory of Hawaii and any contractor, shall advise the Territory of Hawaii whether it concurs in such final acceptance. 11. Prior to the completion of all replacement Army facilities by the Territory of Hawaii, and prior to the restoration of the possession, use, and control of the lands and the transfer of title thereto from the United States to the Territory of Hawaii, and prior to the restoration of the possession, use, and control of the lands and the transfer of title thereto from the United States to the Territory of Hawaii, the Territory may, if it so desires request right-of-entry to proceed with the demolition of existing Army improvements or the construction of Territorial or Army facilities on the subject lands. Such right-of-entry shall be secured in writing from the Department of the Army by the Territory of Hawaii for each improvement to be demolished or constructed. The granting of any such right-of-entry shall be at the discretion of the Department of the Army, except as such right-of-entry is necessary to enable the Territory of Hawaii to complete the construction or demolition for the Department of the Army as described above. Whenever the demolition of any building or improvement on the subject lands is necessary to permit Territorial construction, either for the Territory of Hawaii or for the Department of the Army, and construction by the Territory of replacement Army facilities has progressed to a point where it is deemed to be in the best interest of the United States to do so, the Department of the Army may, at its discretion and upon written request from the Territory in each case, certify as to such partial fulfilment of the conditions specified in Part II of this order, and upon such certification possession, use, and control of such building or improvement and title thereto shall vest in the Territory. 12. The Territory of Hawaii shall commence construction and alteration of the said replacement facilities within twelve months, and shall complete construction and alteration thereof within thirty months, from the date of this order. 13. The Territory of Hawaii shall not be called upon to furnish an operating equipment, appliances, or furniture in connection with the construction or alteration of replacement facilities but shall be responsible for installing any operating equipment, appliances, or furniture furnished by the Department of the Army and shall be responsible for furnishing and installing such standard furnishings and equipment (such as light fixtures, plumbing, locks, and washbasins) as are called for in the plans and specifications. 14. The Territory of Hawaii shall not be required to expend for the construction and alteration work outlined above (the intent and extent of which is covered, by reference, in paragraph 10), whether it be performed pursuant to approved final plans and specifications or pursuant to plans and specifications amended as set forth in paragraph 15, any sum in excess of $409,177, plus the cost of preparing plans and specifications. Subject to the foregoing limitation, the work contemplated shall be accomplished, and the cost thereof discharged, without further reference to the amounts set forth in the existing preliminary estimates as costs of the individual construction and alteration items comprising the overall project, and in case it is necessary to accomplish the intent with respect to one item savings on another or others shall be applied. But if the Territory of Hawaii shall have performed construction and alteration work in the amount of $409,177, in the approved order of priority of items and in accordance with approved plans and specifications as they may be amended, all as provided in this Part, the Territory of Hawaii shall be deemed to have completed all the work which the Territory is required by this Part to perform, irrespective of the amount of work actually accomplished. 15. The Territory of Hawaii shall furnish the Department of the Army monthly statements of expenditures for the said construction and alteration work to permit coordination of work placed and being placed with work not yet started, and the Department of the Army shall have the right to approve the schedule of such work and to amend plans and specifications, upon the giving of adequate notice. 16. When the Territory of Hawaii has completed to the satisfaction of the Department of the Army all the work which the Territory is required by this Part to perform, such work, except that which has already been accepted pursuant to the last sentence of paragraph 10 of this Part, shall be accepted by the Department of the Army, and when all such work has been accepted the Department shall so certify to the Territory of Hawaii. The Commanding General, United States Army, Pacific, shall represent the Department of the Army with respect to the acceptance of replacement facilities and certification that the conditions precedent set forth in this Part have been fulfilled, and with respect to any other matter covered by this order. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 3, 1951

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,309 (Dec. 3, 1951), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10309-restoring-possession-use-and-control-certain-lands-reserved-for.