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Executive Order 6164 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 6164—Transfer of Land at Army Supply Base, Charleston, South Carolina

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Thursday, June 8, 1933
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2 min read (472 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (472 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The possession and control of the following-described tract of land, comprising part of tract no. 2 aforesaid, is hereby transferred from the United States Shipping Board to the War Department for such period of time as the Charleston Ordnance Depot may be maintained as an Ordnance Depot by the War Department: Beginning at an iron pipe marking the northeasterly corner of tract no. 2, aforesaid, said iron pipe bearing N. 26° 10' W. and distant 1,026.69 ft. from a stake marking the center line of the railroad track passing through the easterly boundary of said tract no. 2; Thence from said initial point as follows: S. 26°10' E., 1,001 ft., more or less, to a point, said point being 25 ft., measured at right angles, north of the railroad…

⚖️ 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 Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 8, 1933, this order concerns Transfer of Land at Army Supply Base, Charleston, South Carolina. The possession and control of the following-described tract of land, comprising part of tract no. 2 aforesaid, is hereby transferred from the United States Shipping Board to the War Department for such period of time as the Charleston Ordnance Depot may be maintained as an Ordnance Depot by the War Department: Beginning at an iron pipe marking the northeasterly corner of tract no. 2, aforesaid, said iron pipe…

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 possession and control of the following-described tract of land, comprising part of tract no. 2 aforesaid, is hereby transferred from the United States Shipping Board to the War Department for such period of time as the Charleston Ordnance Depot may be maintained as an Ordnance Depot by the War Department: Beginning at an iron pipe marking the northeasterly corner of tract no. 2, aforesaid, said iron pipe bearing N. 26° 10' W. and distant 1,026.69 ft. from a stake marking the center line of the railroad track passing through the easterly boundary of said tract no. 2; Thence from said initial point as follows: S. 26°10' E., 1,001 ft., more or less, to a point, said point being 25 ft., measured at right angles, north of the railroad…

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)
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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
39 / 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

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

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

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
472
2,778 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
8.8
Grade 9
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas by Executive Order No. 3920, dated November 3, 1923, the possession and control of all that portion of the Charleston Quartermaster Intermediate Depot, Charleston, South Carolina, designated as tracts nos. 1 and 2 on map on file in the Office of the Quartermaster General, War Department, entitled "Charleston Port Terminal, S.C., Boundary Survey of part of Quartermaster Terminal, Plan No. 6243-107, dated May 10, 1923", were transferred from the War Department to the United States Shipping Board; and Whereas it is deemed necessary, in order to permit the establishment, maintenance of, and supervision over a proper firebreak between the Charleston Ordnance Depot and the United States Shipping Board Terminal, that the possession and control of a portion of tract no. 2, aforesaid, be returned to the War Department; Now, Therefore , pursuant to authority contained in section 17 of an act of Congress approved June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 988, 994), entitled "AN ACT To provide for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine, * * * and for other purposes", the possession and control of the following-described tract of land, comprising part of tract no. 2 aforesaid, is hereby transferred from the United States Shipping Board to the War Department for such period of time as the Charleston Ordnance Depot may be maintained as an Ordnance Depot by the War Department: Beginning at an iron pipe marking the northeasterly corner of tract no. 2, aforesaid, said iron pipe bearing N. 26° 10' W. and distant 1,026.69 ft. from a stake marking the center line of the railroad track passing through the easterly boundary of said tract no. 2; Thence from said initial point as follows: S. 26°10' E., 1,001 ft., more or less, to a point, said point being 25 ft., measured at right angles, north of the railroad track aforesaid; Thence in a southwesterly direction along a line parallel to and 25 ft. north of said railroad track a distance of 4,550 ft., more or less, to a point, said point being 25 ft. east of the roadway entering the United States Shipping Board Terminal; Thence in a northwesterly direction parallel to and 25 ft. distant from said roadway a distance of 400 ft., more or less, to a steel bolt; thence by metes and bounds, N. 5°15'30" W., 408.25 ft. to a steel bolt; N. 66°22' E., 2,670.56 ft. to a steel bolt; N. 19°40'30" W., 193.66 ft. to an iron pipe; N. 41°29'30" E., 1,904.24 ft. to the point of beginning, containing an area of 84.3 acres, more or less. The above-described tract of land being that tract indicated in yellow on map on file in the Office of the Quartermaster General, War Department, entitled "Charleston Army Base Terminal, Drawing No. T-25", dated June 29, 1932. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, June 8, 1933.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 6164 (June 8, 1933), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6164-transfer-land-army-supply-base-charleston-south-carolina.