Presidential Order Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order

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Friday, December 9, 1898

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2 min read (411 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

This executive order, signed by President William McKinley on 1898-12-09, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Executive Order." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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

▪ Havana shall be the chief port of entry.

▪ An officer of the Army shall be assigned to such port, who shall be the collector of customs of the islands and of the chief port and shall have general jurisdiction over the collection of customs in the islands.

▪ The ports of Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Sagua, Caibarien, Santiago, Manzanillo, Nuevitas, Guantanamo, Gibara, and Baracoa, in said islands, are hereby declared to be subports of entry, and an officer of the Army will be assigned to each of the subports, who will be the collector of customs of a subport and shall have general jurisdiction of the collection of customs at such port.

▪ He shall make weekly reports to the collector of customs of the islands at the chief port of all transactions at the subport over which he has jurisdiction, with copies of all entries of merchandise, duly certified.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Total Words

411

2,390 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order, "Executive Order," William McKinley (Dec 9, 1898). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-129.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By virtue of the authority vested in me as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, I hereby order and direct that during the occupancy by the military authorities of the United States of the island of Cuba and all islands in the West Indies west of the seventy-fourth degree, west longitude, evacuated by Spain, said islands shall constitute a collection district for customs purposes. Havana shall be the chief port of entry. An officer of the Army shall be assigned to such port, who shall be the collector of customs of the islands and of the chief port and shall have general jurisdiction over the collection of customs in the islands. The ports of Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Sagua, Caibarien, Santiago, Manzanillo, Nuevitas, Guantanamo, Gibara, and Baracoa, in said islands, are hereby declared to be subports of entry, and an officer of the Army will be assigned to each of the subports, who will be the collector of customs of a subport and shall have general jurisdiction of the collection of customs at such port. He shall make weekly reports to the collector of customs of the islands at the chief port of all transactions at the subport over which he has jurisdiction, with copies of all entries of merchandise, duly certified. The Secretary of War shall appoint such civilian deputy collectors, inspectors, and other employees as may be found necessary. The collectors of the subports shall deposit all moneys collected by them with the collector of the islands, and a receipt from the collector of the islands must be taken in duplicate for all such deposits. There shall be appointed an auditor, who shall be stationed at the chief port, whose duty it shall be to examine all entries of merchandise and if found correct to certify to them. Such auditor shall on the first of each month make a full and complete report, duly certified, to the Secretary of War of all duties collected at each port, with an itemized report of all expenditures made therefrom, which shall be referred to the Auditor for the War Department for audit. All questions arising in the administration of customs in the islands shall be referred to the collector of the islands at the chief port for decision, from which there shall be no appeal, except in such cases as may be referred by the collector of the islands to the Secretary of War for his decision. WILLIAM MCKINLEY