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Executive Order 6228 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 6228—Organization of Executive Agencies

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Friday, July 28, 1933
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3 min read (632 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (632 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Said executive order No. 6166, dated June 10, 1933, is hereby interpreted as follows: 1.

⚖️ 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 Private Citizens & Property Owners

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 July 28, 1933, this order concerns Organization of Executive Agencies. Said executive order No. 6166, dated June 10, 1933, is hereby interpreted as follows: 1. The cemeteries and parks of the War Department transferred to the Interior Department are as follows: NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee. Fort Donelson National Military Park, Tennessee. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battle Fields Memorial, Virginia.

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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Said executive order No. 6166, dated June 10, 1933, is hereby interpreted as follows: 1.

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The cemeteries and parks of the War Department transferred to the Interior Department are as follows: NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee.

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That the transfer from the War Department of national cemeteries other than those named above be, and the same is hereby postponed until further order. 3.

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That the transfer of national cemeteries located in foreign countries from the War Department to the Department of State and the transfer of those located in insular possessions under the jurisdiction of the War Department to the Bureau of Insular Affairs of said Department be, and the same are hereby postponed until further order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
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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
35 / 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

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
632
4,465 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.5
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas executive order No. 6166 dated June 10, 1933, issued pursuant to the authority of Section 16 of the Act of March 3, 1933 (Public No. 428-47 Stat. 1517) provides in Section 2 as follows: "All functions of administration of public buildings, reservations, national parks, national monuments, and national cemeteries are consolidated in an office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations in the Department of the Interior, at the head of which shall be a Director of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations ; except that where deemed desirable there may be excluded from this provision any public building or reservation which is chiefiy employed as a facility in the work of a particular agency. This transfer and consolidation of functions shall include, among others, those of the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior and the National Cemeteries and Parks of the War Department which are located within the continental limits of the United States. National Cemeteries located in foreign countries shall be transferred to the Department of State, and those located in insular possessions under the jurisdiction of the War Department shall be administered by the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department." and; Whereas to facilitate and expedite the transfer and consolidation of certain units and agencies contemplated thereby, it is desirable to make more explicit said Section 2 of the aforesaid executive order of June 10, 1933, insofar as the same relates to the transfer of agencies now administered by the War Department: Now, Therefore , said executive order No. 6166, dated June 10, 1933, is hereby interpreted as follows: 1. The cemeteries and parks of the War Department transferred to the Interior Department are as follows: NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee. Fort Donelson National Military Park, Tennessee. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battle Fields Memorial, Virginia. Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina. Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina. Moores Creek National Military Park, North Carolina. Petersburg National Military Park, Virginia. Shiloh National Military Park, Tennessee. Stones River National Military Park, Tennessee. Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi. NATIONAL PARKS Abraham Lincoln National Park, Kentucky. Fort McHenry National Park, Maryland. BATTLEFIELD SITES Antietam Battlefield, Maryland. Appomattox, Virginia. Brices Cross Roads, Mississippi. Chalmette Monument and Grounds, Louisiana. Cowpens, South Carolina. Fort Necessity, Wharton County, Pennsylvania. Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia. Monocacy, Maryland. Tupelo, Mississippi. White Plains, New York. NATIONAL MONUMENTS Big Hole Battlefield, Beaverhead County, Montana. Cabrillo Monument, Ft. Rosecrans, California. Castle Pinckney, Charleston, South Carolina. Father Millet Cross, Fort Niagara, New York. Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida. Fort Matanzas, Florida. Fort Pulaski, Georgia. Meriwether Lewis, Hardin County, Tennessee. Mound City Group, Chillicothe, Ohio. Statue of Liberty, Fort Wood, New York. MISCELLANEOUS MEMORIALS Camp Blount Tablets, Lincoln County, Tennessee. Kill Devil Hill Monument, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. New Echota Marker, Georgia. Lee Mansion, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. NATIONAL CEMETERIES Battleground, District of Columbia. Antietam, (Sharpsburg) Maryland. Vicksburg, Mississippi. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Chattanooga, Tennessee. Fort Donelson, (Dover) Tennessee. Shiloh, (Pittsburg Landing) Tennessee. Stones River, (Murfreesboro) Tennessee. Fredericksburg, Virginia. Poplar Grove, (Petersburg) Virginia. Yorktown, Virginia. 2. Pursuant to Section 22 of said executive order it is hereby ordered that the transfer from the War Department of national cemeteries other than those named above be, and the same is hereby postponed until further order. 3. Also pursuant to Section 22 of said executive order it is hereby ordered that the transfer of national cemeteries located in foreign countries from the War Department to the Department of State and the transfer of those located in insular possessions under the jurisdiction of the War Department to the Bureau of Insular Affairs of said Department be, and the same are hereby postponed until further order. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, July 28, 1933.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 6228 (July 28, 1933), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6228-organization-executive-agencies.