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Executive Order 2462 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

Executive Order 2462—Amending Consular Regulations 692

Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson
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Thursday, September 28, 1916
•
2 min read (353 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (353 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Paragraph 692 of the Consular Regulations of 1896 is hereby amended to read as follows: Currency Certificates.--When the price or value of merchandise obtained by purchase, shipped pursuant to an agreement of purchase, or consigned for sale in the United States is expressed in the invoice in depreciated currency, a currency certificate (form 144) must be attached to the invoice showing the percentage of depreciation as compared with the corresponding standard coin currency and the value in such standard coin currency of the total amount of the depreciated currency stated in the invoice.

View all 1 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Foreign Nations & International Entities Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 Woodrow Wilson on September 28, 1916, this order concerns Amending Consular Regulations 692. Paragraph 692 of the Consular Regulations of 1896 is hereby amended to read as follows: Currency Certificates.--When the price or value of merchandise obtained by purchase, shipped pursuant to an agreement of purchase, or consigned for sale in the United States is expressed in the invoice in depreciated currency, a currency certificate (form 144) must be attached to the invoice showing the percentage of…

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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Paragraph 692 of the Consular Regulations of 1896 is hereby amended to read as follows: Currency Certificates.--When the price or value of merchandise obtained by purchase, shipped pursuant to an agreement of purchase, or consigned for sale in the United States is expressed in the invoice in depreciated currency, a currency certificate (form 144) must be attached to the invoice showing the percentage of depreciation as compared with the corresponding standard coin currency and the value in such standard coin currency of the total amount of the depreciated currency stated in the invoice.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Economy & Finance 🏷️ Trade & Tariffs
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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)
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"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

"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: Supportive of Execution
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
31 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

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

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 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
353
2,132 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
16.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Paragraph 692 of the Consular Regulations of 1896 is hereby amended to read as follows: Currency Certificates.--When the price or value of merchandise obtained by purchase, shipped pursuant to an agreement of purchase, or consigned for sale in the United States is expressed in the invoice in depreciated currency, a currency certificate (form 144) must be attached to the invoice showing the percentage of depreciation as compared with the corresponding standard coin currency and the value in such standard coin currency of the total amount of the depreciated currency stated in the invoice. (Rev. Stat., Sec. 2903; T. D. 17252.) This certificate should show, not the value of the depreciated currency in money of account of the United States, but its value in the terms of the standard coin currency in comparison with which the currency stated in the invoice is depreciated. (T. D. 11314, 17170.) In the assessment of duty the currency of the invoice is reduced to the money of account of the United States upon the basis of the values of foreign coins at the date of shipment, as proclaimed by the Secretary of the Treasury for the first day of January, April, July, and October of each year. (Tariff of 1894, Sec. 25; T. D. 16921.) The date of the consular certification of any invoice shall, for the purposes of this section, be considered the date of exportation. (Tariff of 1894, Sec. 25) In the absence of a currency certificate no allowance will be made for depreciated currency. (T. D. 15435.) When an invoice is certified by a consul of a nation at the time in amity with the United States, or by two respectable merchants, as provided by section 2844, Revised Statutes, the currency certificate required by section 2903, Revised Statutes, may be issued by the foreign consul of the two respectable merchants who certify the invoice. For statistical purposes, currency certificates are required for all invoices of merchandise wherein the price or value is expressed in depreciated currency, without regard to the dutiable or nondutiable character of the merchandise. WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

September 28, 1916.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

References Executive Order 9804—Revoking Executive Orders No. 2463 of September 29, 1916, and No. 4182 of March 24, 1925, Relating to Administration of the Employees' Compensation Act With Respect to Employees of Alaska Railroad, and Placing the Administration of That Act as to Such Employees in the Federal Security Agency
Harry S Truman • 1946-11-21
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 2462 (Sept. 28, 1916), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-2462-amending-consular-regulations-692.