It being of great importance that the consuls and commercial agents of the United States shall possess the proper qualifications for their respective positions, to be asertained either through a satisfactory record of previous actual service under the Department of State or through an appropriate examination: It is hereby ordered, That any vacancy in a consulate or commercial agency now or hereafter existing the salary of which is not more than $2,500 nor less than $1,000, or the compensation of which, if derived from official fees, exclusive of notarial and other unofficial receipts, does not exceed $2,500 nor fall below $1,000, shall be filled (a) by a transfer or promotion from some other position under the Department of State of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for the position to be filled, or (b) by appointment of a person not under the Department of State, but having previously served thereunder to its satisfaction in a capacity tending to qualify him for the position to be filled, or (c) by the appointment of a person who, having furnished the customary evidence of character, responsibility, and capacity, and being thereupon selected by the President for examination, is found upon such examination to be qualified for the position. For the purposes of this order notarial and unofficial fees shall not be regarded, but the compensation of a consulate or commercial agency shall be ascertained, if the office is salaried, by reference to the last preceding appropriation act, and if the office is not salaried by reference to the returns of official fees for the last preceding fiscal year. The examination hereinbefore provided for shall be by a board of three persons designated by the Secretary of State, who shall also prescribe the subjects to which such examinations shall relate and the general mode of conducting the same by the board. A vacancy in a consulate will be filled at discretion only when a suitable appointment can not be made in any of the modes indicated in the second paragraph of this order. GROVER CLEVELAND.
Presidential Order
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Executive Order
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (342 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
That any vacancy in a consulate or commercial agency now or hereafter existing the salary of which is not more than $2,500 nor less than $1,000, or the compensation of which, if derived from official fees, exclusive of notarial and other unofficial receipts, does not exceed $2,500 nor fall below $1,000, shall be filled (a) by a transfer or promotion from some other position under the Department of State of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for the position to be filled, or (b) by appointment of a person not under the Department of State, but having previously served thereunder to its satisfaction in a capacity tending to qualify him for the position to be filled, or (c) by the appointment of a person who, having furnished the…
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Grover Cleveland on September 20, 1895, this order reads: That any vacancy in a consulate or commercial agency now or hereafter existing the salary of which is not more than $2,500 nor less than $1,000, or the compensation of which, if derived from official fees, exclusive of notarial and other unofficial receipts, does not exceed $2,500 nor fall below $1,000, shall be filled (a) by a transfer or promotion from some other position under the Department of State of a…
Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.
Key Directives & Operative Actions
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That any vacancy in a consulate or commercial agency now or hereafter existing the salary of which is not more than $2,500 nor less than $1,000, or the compensation of which, if derived from official fees, exclusive of notarial and other unofficial receipts, does not exceed $2,500 nor fall below $1,000, shall be filled (a) by a transfer or promotion from some other position under the Department of State of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for the position to be filled, or (b) by appointment of a person not under the Department of State, but having previously served thereunder to its satisfaction in a capacity tending to qualify him for the position to be filled, or (c) by the appointment of a person who, having furnished the…
▪
For the purposes of this order notarial and unofficial fees shall not be regarded, but the compensation of a consulate or commercial agency shall be ascertained, if the office is salaried, by reference to the last preceding appropriation act, and if the office is not salaried by reference to the returns of official fees for the last preceding fiscal year.
▪
The examination hereinbefore provided for shall be by a board of three persons designated by the Secretary of State, who shall also prescribe the subjects to which such examinations shall relate and the general mode of conducting the same by the board.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Policy Areas & Topics
🏛️
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating 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 purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)
George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.
Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
📐
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
37 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
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%).
ℹ️
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
342
2,071 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
38.1
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Grover Cleveland around this period.
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Special Departmental Rule I is hereby amended to except from examination in the Department of the Treasury, in the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, forty-three compositors and eight pressmen now temporarily employed under authority of the sundry civil act of March 2, 1895…
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Lieutenant-General John M. Schofield having reached the age entitling him to relief from active military service, he is, in accordance with the provisions of law, hereby placed upon the retired list of the Army, to date September 29, 1895, with all the pay and allowances…
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⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
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📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Special Departmental Rule I is hereby amended by striking out from the list of places excepted from examination in all the Departments "bookbinders." Approved: GROVER CLEVELAND.
Grover Cleveland High School • 1m
Order
Aug 22, 1895
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
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📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Government Printing Office Rule II, section 2, is hereby amended by omitting in line I, after the words "under 21," the words "or over 45," and in line 2, after the words "under 18," the words "or over 35." The section as amended will read as follows: 2.
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Order
Aug 16, 1895
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Civil Service: Withdrawing Compositors and Pressmen From the List of Places to Be Filled By Noncompetitive Examination
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
So much of Executive orders heretofore issued under General Rule III, section 2, clause (c), as provides for the appointment of compositors and pressmen by noncompetitive examination is hereby revoked, and hereafter compositors and pressmen will be appointed by competitive…
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Order
Aug 5, 1895
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Amendment of Civil Service Rules
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Departmental Rule IX, clause 1, paragraph 2, is hereby amended by striking out in line 1 the words "appointed from the appropriate register to" and substituting therefor the word "occupying;" by adding before the word "messenger" in line 2 the following: "engineers, assistant…
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📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order (Sept. 20, 1895), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-192.
