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Executive Order 6050 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 6050—Exclusion of Lands in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska for an Army Radio Station

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Monday, February 27, 1933
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3 min read (593 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (593 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Pursuant to authority contained in the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 34, 36), entitled "AN ACT Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes," the following-described two parcels of land situated near Juneau, Territory of Alaska, and comprising part of the Tongass National Forest are hereby assigned to and placed under the control of the Secretary of War for use as a site for the Army radio receiving station at Juneau, Alaska: Parcel One Beginning at corner No. 8 of Forest Elimination Boundary Survey No. 176 on north shore of Gastineau Channel, said comer being in the southerly right-of-way line of Glacier Highway…

⚖️ 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

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 February 27, 1933, this order concerns Exclusion of Lands in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska for an Army Radio Station. Pursuant to authority contained in the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 34, 36), entitled "AN ACT Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes," the following-described two parcels of land situated near Juneau, Territory of Alaska, and comprising part of the Tongass National Forest are hereby…

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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Pursuant to authority contained in the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 34, 36), entitled "AN ACT Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes," the following-described two parcels of land situated near Juneau, Territory of Alaska, and comprising part of the Tongass National Forest are hereby assigned to and placed under the control of the Secretary of War for use as a site for the Army radio receiving station at Juneau, Alaska: Parcel One Beginning at corner No. 8 of Forest Elimination Boundary Survey No. 176 on north shore of Gastineau Channel, said comer being in the southerly right-of-way line of Glacier Highway…

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Upon cessation of the use of the above-described two parcels of land for the purpose herein specified, said parcels shall revert to their previous status as part of the said Tongass National Forest.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ 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)
§

"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
30 / 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

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

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
593
3,336 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
6.9
Grade 7
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas the President of the United States of America, by proclamation dated February 16, 1909 (35 Stat. 2226-2228), proclaimed that the boundaries of the Tongass National Forest, Territory of Alaska, be as described therein; and Whereas there is a military necessity for the use by the War Department as a site for the Army radio receiving station at Juneau, Alaska, of two parcels of land comprising part of the said Tongass National Forest; Now, Therefore , pursuant to authority contained in the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 34, 36), entitled "AN ACT Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes," the following-described two parcels of land situated near Juneau, Territory of Alaska, and comprising part of the Tongass National Forest are hereby assigned to and placed under the control of the Secretary of War for use as a site for the Army radio receiving station at Juneau, Alaska: Parcel One Beginning at corner No. 8 of Forest Elimination Boundary Survey No. 176 on north shore of Gastineau Channel, said comer being in the southerly right-of-way line of Glacier Highway (66 ft. wide); Thence from said corner No. 8, by metes and bounds: Due south, 111.5 ft., to corner No. 7 of said survey; along the meander line of Switzer Homestead Survey 2121 the three (3) following courses: S. 78° 22' E., 696.3 ft., to a point; N. 62° 30' E., 462.0 ft., to a point; S. 44° 15' E., 605.0 ft., to a point; Due south, 1,228.0 ft., to a point; Due west, 2,000.0 ft., to a point in the easterly line of lot "M" of Forest Service Homesite Survey; In a northerly direction, 1,700.0 ft., more or less, along the easterly line of lots "M", "L", "K", and "I" of said Forest Service Homesite Survey to a point in the aforementioned southerly right-of-way line of Glacier Highway; S. 89° 50' E., 586.0 ft., along said southerly right-of-way line to the place of beginning. The parcel as described contains an area of 74.3 acres, more or less, and consists of tide flats. Parcel Two Beginning at comer No. 4 of lot B, Mile 7 Group Homesites, in the northerly right-of-way line of Glacier Highway (66 ft. wide), said corner being marked by a hemlock post 5 ft. long and 4½ in. in diameter, squared to 3½ in., set 2 ft. in ground and marked "HS-4A" on east face and "B" on west face, and referenced by a hemlock tree 7 in. in diameter marked "WHS 4", and a hemlock tree 16 in. in diameter marked "WHS 4", bearing N. 35° W., 20 links, and N. 63½° E., 39 links, respectively, from initial corner post; Thence from said initial point by metes and bounds: N. 89° 50' W., 250.0 ft., along said northerly right-of-way line of Glacier Highway, to a point; Due north, 150.0 ft., through lot "B" to a point; S. 89° 50' E., 250.0 ft., through lot "B" to a point in the dividing line between lots "A" and "B" of said Mile 7 Group Homesites; Due south, 150.0 ft., along said dividing line to the place of beginning. The parcel as described contains an area of 0.86 acres, more or less. Upon cessation of the use of the above-described two parcels of land for the purpose herein specified, said parcels shall revert to their previous status as part of the said Tongass National Forest. HERBERT HOOVER The White House, February 27, 1933.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 6050 (Feb. 27, 1933), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6050-exclusion-lands-the-tongass-national-forest-alaska-for-army-radio.