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Executive Order 6359 ⚖️⚠️ Zone 3: Lowest Ebb Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.19) 📜 Art. I §8: Legislative Prerogative Tension (Purse & Commerce)

Executive Order 6359—Relating to Gold Recovered from Natural Deposits

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Wednesday, October 25, 1933
•
2 min read (385 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (385 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do declare that a period of national emergency exists, and by virtue of said authority and of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue the following Executive order: Section 1.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️⚠️ Zone 3: Lowest Ebb
Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
📜 Art. I §8: Legislative Prerogative Tension (Purse & Commerce)
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Foreign Nations & International Entities Public Health & Medical Institutions Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
Inspect unabridged text ↓

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 October 25, 1933, this order concerns Relating to Gold Recovered from Natural Deposits. I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do declare that a period of national emergency exists, and by virtue of said authority and of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue the following Executive order: Section 1.

Constitutional Assessment: An early statesman would subject this decree to rigorous scrutiny under Article I, Section 8. The Framers deliberately committed commerce, taxation, tariffs, and revenue to Congress alone. To the extent this order imposes duties or financial burdens without explicit statutory pre-authorization, it creates friction with the separation of powers.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do declare that a period of national emergency exists, and by virtue of said authority and of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue the following Executive order: Section 1.

▪

The Executive order of August 29, 1933, relating to the sale and export of gold recovered from natural deposits, is hereby revoked: Provided, however , That the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to sell in accordance therewith gold received on consignment for sale on or before the date of this Executive order.

▪

The United States mints and assay offices are hereby authorized, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to receive on consignment gold which the mint or assay office to which the gold is delivered is satisfied has been recovered from natural deposits in the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

▪

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is authorized, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to acquire gold which has been received on consignment by a United States mint or assay office, and to hold, earmark for foreign account, export, or otherwise dispose of such gold.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Economy & Finance 🏷️ Trade & Tariffs
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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 3 (Lowest Ebb)
§

"When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." — Federalist No. 47 (1788)

Madison would express grave alarm over this order. By asserting independent authority in tension with legislative limits or the Bill of Rights, the Executive risks collapsing the separation of powers into unilateral rule. Under the Madisonian model, no emergency justifies the Executive substituting its decree for a deliberative Act of Congress.

Madisonian Stance: Strict Dissent (Overreach)
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: Qualified Caution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Vehement Objection
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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.

⚠️ Elevated Constitutional Friction
72 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

High Friction

Invokes broad unilateral or emergency executive authorities that test the constitutional boundary of the Take Care Clause.

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

High Friction

The order asserts independent Article II prerogative against statutory constraints, reallocates funds without explicit appropriation, or stretches executive power into realms constitutionally reserved to the legislature or judiciary.

Benchmark: Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This directive engages significant constitutional friction across statutory authorization, legislative prerogatives, or individual liberties.

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
385
2,248 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
20.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
-0.19
Constitutional Friction / Overreach
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (6 sections)
Sec. 1Sec. 2Sec. 3Sec. 4Sec. 5Sec. 6

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5(b) of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended by section 2 of the act of March 9, 1933, entitled "An Act to Provide Relief in the Existing National Emergency in Banking and for other Purposes", I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do declare that a period of national emergency exists, and by virtue of said authority and of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue the following Executive order:

Section 1. #sec-1

The Executive order of August 29, 1933, relating to the sale and export of gold recovered from natural deposits, is hereby revoked: Provided, however , That the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to sell in accordance therewith gold received on consignment for sale on or before the date of this Executive order.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

The United States mints and assay offices are hereby authorized, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to receive on consignment gold which the mint or assay office to which the gold is delivered is satisfied has been recovered from natural deposits in the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is authorized, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to acquire gold which has been received on consignment by a United States mint or assay office, and to hold, earmark for foreign account, export, or otherwise dispose of such gold.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

The Executive order of August 28, 1933, relating to the hoarding, export, and earmarking of gold coin, bullion, or currency and to transactions in foreign exchange, is hereby amended to permit, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, the export of articles fabricated from gold.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and empowered to issue such regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this Executive order.

Sec. 6. #sec-6

This Executive order and any regulations issued hereunder may be modified or revoked at any time. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, October 25, 1933, 9 a.m.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

Amends Executive Order 11825—Revocation of Executive Orders Pertaining to the Regulation of the Acquisition of, Holding of, or Other Transactions in Gold
Gerald R. Ford • 1974-12-31
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 6359 (Oct. 25, 1933), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6359-relating-gold-recovered-from-natural-deposits.