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Executive Order 10847 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 10847—Establishing the Committee for Rural Development Program

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower
•
Monday, October 12, 1959
•
3 min read (649 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (649 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established the Committee for Rural Development Program, hereinafter referred to as the Committee, which shall be composed of the following members: (1) The Under Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on October 12, 1959, this order concerns Establishing the Committee for Rural Development Program. There is hereby established the Committee for Rural Development Program, hereinafter referred to as the Committee, which shall be composed of the following members: (1) The Under Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee. (2) The Under Secretary of the Interior. (3) The Under Secretary of Commerce. (4) The Under Secretary of Labor. (5) The Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

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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There is hereby established the Committee for Rural Development Program, hereinafter referred to as the Committee, which shall be composed of the following members: (1) The Under Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee.

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A member of the Council of Economic Advisers designated by the Chairman of the Council.

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To assure effective functioning of the Committee and uninterrupted participation of each department and agency represented on the Committee, the head of each such department or agency shall designate an appropriate officer or employee of his department or agency as an alternate member to participate in the affairs of the Committee whenever the member may be absent or otherwise unable to participate.

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The Committee may request the head of any other Federal department or agency to designate a representative to participate in the affairs of the Committee as desirable in furthering the work of the rural-development program and related activities.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Agriculture 🏷️ Economy & Finance
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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)
§

"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
27 / 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

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 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
649
4,203 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.2
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS a substantial number of families, both farm and non-farm, living in rural areas have relatively low cash incomes and do not share equitably in the economic and social progress of the Nation, and it is desirable to encourage and assist such families by providing greater opportunity for their participation in the Nation's production of goods and services and in community, civic, and other affairs; and WHEREAS the Federal Government, in cooperation with the several States and local governments and private agencies and individuals, has undertaken a rural-development program designed to develop the human resources in rural America, by a series of concerted actions to identify the needs of low-income rural people and to help them to achieve greater rewards for their contributions to our national progress; and WHEREAS the rural-development program has achieved steady progress toward its objectives, and the time has now come to consolidate its accomplishments and to provide more formal Federal organization for the program:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. (a) There is hereby established the Committee for Rural Development Program, hereinafter referred to as the Committee, which shall be composed of the following members: (1) The Under Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee. (2) The Under Secretary of the Interior. (3) The Under Secretary of Commerce. (4) The Under Secretary of Labor. (5) The Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. (6) The Administrator of the Small Business Administration. (7) A member of the Council of Economic Advisers designated by the Chairman of the Council. (b) To assure effective functioning of the Committee and uninterrupted participation of each department and agency represented on the Committee, the head of each such department or agency shall designate an appropriate officer or employee of his department or agency as an alternate member to participate in the affairs of the Committee whenever the member may be absent or otherwise unable to participate. (c) The Committee may request the head of any other Federal department or agency to designate a representative to participate in the affairs of the Committee as desirable in furthering the work of the rural-development program and related activities. SEC. 2. The activities of the Committee shall be directed toward providing leadership and uniform policy guidance to the several Federal departments and agencies responsible for rural-development program functions and related activities so that they may take more effective and concerted actions in carrying out those functions and activities and cooperate more effectively with non-Federal participants, both private and governmental, in the program. SEC. 3. In conducting its activities, the Committee shall place particular emphasis on effective public and private cooperation and leadership for rural development at the State and local levels, and, to that end, shall provide guidance for the conduct of Federal rural-development program functions and related activities in a manner designed to produce maximum State, local, and private participation and initiative in identifying and meeting local needs. SEC. 4. Each department and agency responsible for functions and activities that can contribute to the objectives of the rural-development program and related activities shall carry those functions and activities forward in such a manner as to make the fullest possible contribution to the objectives of rural development. SEC. 5. The departments and agencies represented on the Committee shall, as may be necessary for the purpose of effectuating the provisions of this order, furnish assistance to the Committee in consonance with section 214 of the act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691). Such assistance may include the detailing of employees to the Committee, one of whom may serve as its executive secretary, to perform such functions consistent with the purpose of this order as the Committee may assign to them. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

October 12, 1959.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

Revokes Executive Order 11122—Establishing the Rural Development Committee
John F. Kennedy • 1963-10-16
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,847 (Oct. 12, 1959), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10847-establishing-the-committee-for-rural-development-program.