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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 4060 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 4060—Reserving for Naval Use Certain Areas in the Vicinity of the Island of Key West, Florida

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge
•
Monday, August 11, 1924
•
2 min read (412 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (412 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

All the islands, keys, harbors and shoals adjacent to and in the vicinity of the Island of Key West, Florida, and contained within the metes and bounds, courses and distances, as follows, to-wit: Beginning at a point on the eastern edge-of Frankford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 34' 06" N., and longitude 81° 48' 20" W., and approximately 1800 feet in a northwesterly direction from the northwest corner of the Export Pier at Florida East Coast Terminal; thence due east for a distance of 7680 feet: thence due north for a distance of 26,280 feet; thence due west for a distance of 22,050 feet: thence due south for a distance of 12,900 feet to a point on the western edge of Frank-ford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 36' 20" N. and…

View all 2 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 Calvin Coolidge on August 11, 1924, this order concerns Reserving for Naval Use Certain Areas in the Vicinity of the Island of Key West, Florida. All the islands, keys, harbors and shoals adjacent to and in the vicinity of the Island of Key West, Florida, and contained within the metes and bounds, courses and distances, as follows, to-wit: Beginning at a point on the eastern edge-of Frankford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 34' 06" N., and longitude 81° 48' 20" W., and approximately 1800 feet in a northwesterly direction from the northwest corner of 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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All the islands, keys, harbors and shoals adjacent to and in the vicinity of the Island of Key West, Florida, and contained within the metes and bounds, courses and distances, as follows, to-wit: Beginning at a point on the eastern edge-of Frankford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 34' 06" N., and longitude 81° 48' 20" W., and approximately 1800 feet in a northwesterly direction from the northwest corner of the Export Pier at Florida East Coast Terminal; thence due east for a distance of 7680 feet: thence due north for a distance of 26,280 feet; thence due west for a distance of 22,050 feet: thence due south for a distance of 12,900 feet to a point on the western edge of Frank-ford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 36' 20" N. and…

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Florida, be and the same are hereby reserved for use of the Navy Department for naval purposes, subject to any existing vested rights in and to the same.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense
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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 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
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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
26 / 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

Low Friction

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

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

Moderate Friction

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%).
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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
412
2,114 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
6.8
Grade 7
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

It is hereby ordered that all the islands, keys, harbors and shoals adjacent to and in the vicinity of the Island of Key West, Florida, and contained within the metes and bounds, courses and distances, as follows, to-wit: Beginning at a point on the eastern edge-of Frankford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 34' 06" N., and longitude 81° 48' 20" W., and approximately 1800 feet in a northwesterly direction from the northwest corner of the Export Pier at Florida East Coast Terminal; thence due east for a distance of 7680 feet: thence due north for a distance of 26,280 feet; thence due west for a distance of 22,050 feet: thence due south for a distance of 12,900 feet to a point on the western edge of Frank-ford Bank in approximately latitude 24° 36' 20" N. and longitude 81° 51' W; thence along the western edge of Frankford Bank on the 16 foot contour in a south-. easterly direction to latitude 24° 34' for approximately 18,000 feet; thence in a southerly direction for a distance of 2100 feet more or less; thence rounding the southern point of Frankford Bank for a distance of 1500 feet more or less; thence in a northeasterly direction along the eastern edge of the said bank for a distance of 3000 feet more or less to the point of beginning,--all as delineated on Coast & Geodetic Survey Chart of Key West Harbor and approaches, No. 584, in what would be, if public land surveys were extended thereover, approximately the S 1/2 Secs. 5 and 6, all of Secs. 7, 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29, and 30; N 1/2 and SW 1/4 Sec. 31, N 1/2 Sec. 32, in T. 67 S. R. 25 E: the S 1/2 Secs. 1 and 2, the SE 1/4 Sec. 3; E 1/2 Sec. 10, all of Sees. 11, 12, 13, and 14; the E 1/2 Sec. 15: the NE 1/4 Sec. 22; all of Secs. 23, 24 and 25; the E 1/2 Sec. 26: the NE 1/4 Sec. 35; the N 1/2 and SE 1/4 Sec. 36, T. 67 S., R. 24 E; also all of the islands, keys and shoals located in Ts. 67 and 68 S., Rs. 21, 22, 23, and 24 E.. Florida, be and the same are hereby reserved for use of the Navy Department for naval purposes, subject to any existing vested rights in and to the same. CALVIN COOLIDGE The White House, August 11, 1924.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 4060 (Aug. 11, 1924), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-4060-reserving-for-naval-use-certain-areas-the-vicinity-the-island-key.