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Executive Order 10357 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations

Executive Order 10357—Including Certain Lands in the Nantahala National Forest

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Wednesday, June 4, 1952
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3 min read (660 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (660 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 April 18, 1952, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture: PARCEL No. 1 Beginning at US-TVA Monument 72-3 (Coordinates: No. 549,301; E. 447,817) at a common corner of the lands of the United States of America (US-TVA), the U.S. Forest Service, and Gay Hawkins et ux; thence with the United States of America's (US-TVA) boundary line N. 2 deg. 27' E., 2077 feet to a stone; thence N. 88 deg. 27' E., 1737 feet to a U.S. Forest Service monument; thence N. 7 deg. 42' W., 492 feet…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
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 June 4, 1952, this order concerns Including 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 April 18, 1952, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture: PARCEL No. 1 Beginning at US-TVA Monument 72-3 (Coordinates: No. 549,301; E. 447,817) at a…

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

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 April 18, 1952, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture: PARCEL No. 1 Beginning at US-TVA Monument 72-3 (Coordinates: No. 549,301; E. 447,817) at a common corner of the lands of the United States of America (US-TVA), the U.S. Forest Service, and Gay Hawkins et ux; thence with the United States of America's (US-TVA) boundary line N. 2 deg. 27' E., 2077 feet to a stone; thence N. 88 deg. 27' E., 1737 feet to a U.S. Forest Service monument; thence N. 7 deg. 42' W., 492 feet…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ 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 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§

"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)

Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
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: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
30 / 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

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ 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
660
3,639 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
9.9
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS on April 18, 1952, 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 Cherokee County, North Carolina, so that such lands might be included in and reserved as part of the Nantahala National Forest, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the said 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 April 18, 1952, between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Department of Agriculture: PARCEL No. 1 Beginning at US-TVA Monument 72-3 (Coordinates: No. 549,301; E. 447,817) at a common corner of the lands of the United States of America (US-TVA), the U.S. Forest Service, and Gay Hawkins et ux; thence with the United States of America's (US-TVA) boundary line N. 2 deg. 27' E., 2077 feet to a stone; thence N. 88 deg. 27' E., 1737 feet to a U.S. Forest Service monument; thence N. 7 deg. 42' W., 492 feet to a metal marker at the top of a ridge; thence with the top of the ridge as it meanders in a northeasterly direction approximately 1475 feet (straight line bearing and distance of N. 48 deg. 07' E., 1407 feet) to a metal marker; thence, leaving the ridge, S. 1 deg. 14' W., 1165 feet to US-TVA Monument 2-1; thence S. 54 deg. 26' W., 1659 feet to US-TVA Monument 72-7; thence N. 14 deg. 20' E., 335 feet to US-TVA Monument 72-6; thence N. 86 deg. 56'W., 1177 feet to US-TVA Monument 72-5; thence S. 6 deg. 31' W., 1808 feet to US-TVA Monument 72-4; thence S. 84 deg. 55' W., 136 feet to the point of beginning, and containing 46.9 acres, more or less. PARCEL No. 1 Beginning at US-TVA Monument 7-1 at a corner in the boundary between the lands of the United States of America (US-TVA) and the U.S. Forest Service from which the most northerly corner of the above-described Parcel No. 1 bears S. 1 deg. 14' W., at a distance of 1386 feet; thence from the point of beginning with the United States of America's (US-TVA) boundary line S. 1 deg. 14' W., 505 feet to a metal marker; thence N. 41 deg. 55' W., 313 feet to a metal marker; thence S. 52 deg. 09" W., 1300 feet to a metal marker; thence N. 7 deg. 42' W., 1227 feet, passing a metal marker at 1088 feet, to a metal marker; thence S. 85 deg. 48' E, 750 feet to a metal marker; thence N. 31 deg. 23' W., 726 feet to US-TVA Monument 7-2; thence N. 71 deg. 07' E., 82 feet to US-TVA Monument 6-1; thence S. 52 deg. 32' E., 1213 feet to the point of beginning, and containing 27.5 acres, more or less. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

June 4, 1952

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,357 (June 4, 1952), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10357-including-certain-lands-the-nantahala-national-forest.