It is ordered that each member of the advisory board of engineers upon plans of the Panama Canal shall be allowed $5,000, payable upon the completion of the report of the board. In addition thereto he shall, when on duty with the board, be allowed $15 per day for personal expenses from the date of leaving his home until his return thereto, including Sundays and Holidays. He shall also be allowed the actual cost of transportation incurred by him in travel on duty in connection with the board to include cost of ticket by railway or steamer, sleeper or parlor car accommodations, baggage transportation, cabs and porterage. It is further ordered that the allowance of $5,000 to Gen. Davis and Gen. Abbott shall be increased by the amount of their retired pay for the time during which they are employed upon the work of the board, it being my intention that these members of the board shall receive the same compensation for this work as the other members, and this increase being made to provide for the usual reduction of retired officers' pay. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Presidential Order
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Executive Order
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (185 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Each member of the advisory board of engineers upon plans of the Panama Canal shall be allowed $5,000, payable upon the completion of the report of the board.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
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 Theodore Roosevelt on August 31, 1905, this order reads: Each member of the advisory board of engineers upon plans of the Panama Canal shall be allowed $5,000, payable upon the completion of the report of the board. In addition thereto he shall, when on duty with the board, be allowed $15 per day for personal expenses from the date of leaving his home until his return thereto, including Sundays and Holidays.
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
▪
Each member of the advisory board of engineers upon plans of the Panama Canal shall be allowed $5,000, payable upon the completion of the report of the board.
▪
In addition thereto he shall, when on duty with the board, be allowed $15 per day for personal expenses from the date of leaving his home until his return thereto, including Sundays and Holidays.
▪
He shall also be allowed the actual cost of transportation incurred by him in travel on duty in connection with the board to include cost of ticket by railway or steamer, sleeper or parlor car accommodations, baggage transportation, cabs and porterage.
▪
It is further ordered that the allowance of $5,000 to Gen. Davis and Gen. Abbott shall be increased by the amount of their retired pay for the time during which they are employed upon the work of the board, it being my intention that these members of the board shall receive the same compensation for this work as the other members, and this increase being made to provide for the usual reduction of retired officers' pay.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ 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 1 (Maximum Authority)
§
"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
📐
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
26 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Moderate Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
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
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
Low Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
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 in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.
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
185
1,069 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
14.8
College Level
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Theodore Roosevelt around this period.
Order
Aug 26, 1905
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
The requirement that a person proposed for transfer must have actually served in the classified service at least six months next preceding the transfer may be waived in the case of the transfer of W. E. Lackland from the Treasury Department to the Post-Office at Prescott…
Theodore Roosevelt College Level • 1m
Order
Jul 29, 1905
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
All that portion of the public domain in the Territory of New Mexico embracing the following sections and fractional sections, viz: S. 1/2 sec. 1, all of secs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and N. 1/2 secs. 17, 18, 23, and 24 of T. 20 N., R. 7 E.; all of…
Theodore Roosevelt Grade 6 • 2m
Order
Jul 25, 1905
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Mrs. McLanaham, after twelve years' service, was separated from the position of sewer in the Government Printing Office prior to her marriage in 1894. In June, 1903, she was left a widow with three children to support.
Theodore Roosevelt College Level • 1m
Order
Jul 22, 1905
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The recommendations made within by the Acting Secretary of War are approved. The Secretary of the Interior will cause this action to be noted on the records of the General Land Office. T. ROOSEVELT
Theodore Roosevelt High School • 1m
Order
Jul 21, 1905
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order—Fort Shaw School Reservation, Montana
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
THE PRESIDENT: The military reservation of Fort Shaw, Mont., declared by Executive order of January 11, 1870, and embracing an area of about 29,843 acres, has become useless for military purposes.
Theodore Roosevelt High School • 2m
Order
Oct 13, 1905
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
No officer or employee of the government shall, directly or indirectly, instruct or be concerned in any manner in the instruction of any person, or classes of persons, with a view to their special preparation for the examination of the United States Civil Service Commission.
Theodore Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order (Aug. 31, 1905), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6.
