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Executive Order 5849 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 5849—Transferring to Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy Certain Lands Opposite Balboa, and Establishing Thereon a Naval Base in the Canal Zone

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Thursday, May 19, 1932
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3 min read (664 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (664 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The area of land hereinafter described, situated in the Canal Zone, is hereby set apart and assigned to the uses and purposes of a naval reservation under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy; but said area shall be subject to the civil control and jurisdiction of the Cana) Zone authorities, in conformity with the Panama Canal Act (37 Stat. 560-569, U.S. Code, title 48, ch. 6).

⚖️ 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 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 Herbert Hoover on May 19, 1932, this order concerns Transferring to Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy Certain Lands Opposite Balboa, and Establishing Thereon a Naval Base in the Canal Zone. The area of land hereinafter described, situated in the Canal Zone, is hereby set apart and assigned to the uses and purposes of a naval reservation under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy; but said area shall be subject to the civil control and jurisdiction of the Cana) Zone authorities, in conformity with the Panama Canal Act (37 Stat. 560-569, U.S. Code, title 48, ch. 6).

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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The area of land hereinafter described, situated in the Canal Zone, is hereby set apart and assigned to the uses and purposes of a naval reservation under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy; but said area shall be subject to the civil control and jurisdiction of the Cana) Zone authorities, in conformity with the Panama Canal Act (37 Stat. 560-569, U.S. Code, title 48, ch. 6).

▪

Excepting and reserving therefrom the necessary rights of way for the location and functioning of existing and projected necessary highways, power and communication lines, lighthouses, and military defense installations, and, in principle, for such additions to these installations as in future may be found to be necessary: Provided , however, that in the event that change in the plans and projects of the Navy Department result in rendering surplus for naval requirements any portion of the area aforesaid, the portion thus rendered surplus shall be restored to its previous status under the control of the Canal Zone.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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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)
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"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
31 / 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

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

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
664
3,696 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
6.6
Grade 7
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by law, the area of land hereinafter described, situated in the Canal Zone, is hereby set apart and assigned to the uses and purposes of a naval reservation under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy; but said area shall be subject to the civil control and jurisdiction of the Cana) Zone authorities, in conformity with the Panama Canal Act (37 Stat. 560-569, U.S. Code, title 48, ch. 6). The said area is described as follows: Beginning at a concrete monument (marked #1 on the map), N. 00° 30' E., 75 ft. from Thatcher Highway Station P.C. 50 plus 00.00, said monument being 8 in. square and 30 in. above the ground, the geographic position of which, referred to the Canal Zone triangulation system, is in latitude 8° 56' plus 4,754.37 ft. and longitude 79° 34' plus 5,713.90 ft.; thence in a westerly and northerly direction, along a line parallel to and 75.00 ft. from the Thatcher Highway center line, to a concrete monument (marked #2 on the map) in latitude 8° 57' plus 3,133.52 ft. and longitude 79° 37' plus 1,026.60 ft. opposite P.T. Station 201 plus 79.10; thence due north, 5,808.00 ft. to a concrete monument (marked #3 on the map) in latitude 8° 58' plus 2,894.16 ft. and longitude 79° 37' plus 1,026.60 ft.; thence due east, 12,736.80 ft. to a point (marked #4 on the map) in latitude 8° 58' plus 2,894.16 ft. and longitude 79° 35' plus 316.44 ft.; (on the extension of the last course, 444.38 ft. from point #4 is a 6-in. pipe monument, 6 ft. above the ground); thence S. 19° 24' 40" E., 5,280.00 ft., along a line parallel with and 1,000.00 ft. from the west prism line of the Canal to a point (marked #5 on the map) in latitude 8° 57' plus 3,961.64 ft. and longitude 79° 34' plus 4,575.01 ft.; thence due east, 1,060.27 ft. to a point on the west prism line of the Canal (marked #6 on the map) in latitude 8° 57' plus 3,961.64 ft. and longitude 79° 34' plus 3,514.74 ft.; thence S. 19° 24' 40" E., 4,155.75 ft. along the west prism line of the Canal to a point (marked #7 on the map) in latitude 8° 57' plus 42.10 ft. and longitude 79° 34' plus 2,133.61 ft.; thence S. 38° 15' 30" E., 1,752.06 ft. to a point on the west prism line of the Canal (marked #8 on the map) in latitude 8° 56' plus 4,713.69 ft. and longitude 79° 34' plus 1,048.73 ft.; thence N. 89° 30' W., 3,760.68 ft. to a concrete monument (marked #9 on the map) in latitude 8° 56' plus 4,746.52 ft. and longitude 79° 34' plus 4,809.26 ft.; thence on the same course, 904.79 ft. to the point of beginning, containing an area of 2,509.618 acres or 3.9213 square miles. The directions of the lines refer to the true meridian and were determined from deflection angles from known azimuths of the Canal Zone triangulation system. The magnetic declination was not recorded. The survey was made January 6 to 15, 1932, by The Panama Canal. The parcel of land is shown on Panama Canal Drawing X-6102-22, on file in the office of the Governor of the Panama Canal and the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. Excepting and reserving therefrom the necessary rights of way for the location and functioning of existing and projected necessary highways, power and communication lines, lighthouses, and military defense installations, and, in principle, for such additions to these installations as in future may be found to be necessary: Provided , however, that in the event that change in the plans and projects of the Navy Department result in rendering surplus for naval requirements any portion of the area aforesaid, the portion thus rendered surplus shall be restored to its previous status under the control of the Canal Zone. HERBERT HOOVER The White House, May 19, 1932.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 5849 (May 19, 1932), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-5849-transferring-control-and-jurisdiction-the-secretary-the-navy-certain.