General Order NAVY DEPARTMENT The following Executive order, announcing the death of General William Tecumseh Sherman, is published for the information of the Navy and the Marine Corps: In accordance with the order of the President, the Navy Department will be closed and all business suspended therein on the day of the funeral, and the flag at all yards and stations will be displayed at half-mast until after the burial of General Sherman, and in all places where public expression is given to the national sorrow business will be suspended at navy-yards or stations during such hours as will enable officers and employees of the Navy to participate therein with their fellow-citizens. B.F. TRACY, Secretary of the Navy .
Presidential Order
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (119 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
General Order NAVY DEPARTMENT The following Executive order, announcing the death of General William Tecumseh Sherman, is published for the information of the Navy and the Marine Corps: In accordance with the order of the President, the Navy Department will be closed and all business suspended therein on the day of the funeral, and the flag at all yards and stations will be displayed at half-mast until after the burial of General Sherman, and in all places where public expression is given to the national sorrow business will be suspended at navy-yards or stations during such hours as will enable officers and employees of the Navy to participate therein with their fellow-citizens.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments 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 Benjamin Harrison on February 16, 1891, this order reads: General Order NAVY DEPARTMENT The following Executive order, announcing the death of General William Tecumseh Sherman, is published for the information of the Navy and the Marine Corps: In accordance with the order of the President, the Navy Department will be closed and all business suspended therein on the day of the funeral, and the flag at all yards and stations will be displayed at half-mast until after the…
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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General Order NAVY DEPARTMENT The following Executive order, announcing the death of General William Tecumseh Sherman, is published for the information of the Navy and the Marine Corps: In accordance with the order of the President, the Navy Department will be closed and all business suspended therein on the day of the funeral, and the flag at all yards and stations will be displayed at half-mast until after the burial of General Sherman, and in all places where public expression is given to the national sorrow business will be suspended at navy-yards or stations during such hours as will enable officers and employees of the Navy to participate therein with their fellow-citizens.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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
"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
📐
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
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
Low Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Confined strictly to internal federal jurisdiction, federal property, or direct military command.
Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments
Moderate Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
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
119
724 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
27.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Benjamin Harrison around this period.
Order
Feb 18, 1891
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Amendment of Civil Service Rules
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended so as to include among the places excepted from examination therein the following: In the Department of Agriculture, in the office of the Secretary: Private secretary to the chief of the division of statistics. BENJ. HARRISON
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Order
Feb 14, 1891
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
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📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Washington, February 14, 1891. 1. The following order of the War Department is published to the Army: WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington , February 14, 1891 .
Benjamin Harrison High School • 2m
Order
Feb 13, 1891
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
To the Heads of the Executive Departments: In token of respect to the memory of Admiral David D. Porter, who died this morning, the President directs that the national flag be displayed at half-mast upon all public buildings throughout the United States until after his funeral…
Benjamin Harrison College Level • 1m
Order
Feb 21, 1891
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Amendment of Civil Service Rules
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended so as to include among the places excepted from examination therein the following: In the Department of the Treasury, in the Coast and Geodetic Survey: Clerk to act as confidential clerk and cashier to the disbursing officer.
Benjamin Harrison College Level • 1m
Order
Feb 26, 1891
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
In accordance with an act of Congress approved September 27, 1890, the following limits to the punishment of enlisted men, together with the accompanying regulations, are established for the government in time of peace of all courts-martial, and will take effect thirty days…
Benjamin Harrison High School • 13m
Order
Mar 4, 1891
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Amendment of Civil Service Rules
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended so as to include among the places excepted from examination therein the following: In the Department of Agriculture, in the office of the Secretary: Clerk to act as appointment clerk. BENJ. HARRISON
Benjamin Harrison College Level • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order (Feb. 16, 1891), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-220.
