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Executive Order 6584 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 6584—Interdepartmental Transfer of Lands on Sand and Quarantine Islands, Territory of Hawaii

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Tuesday, February 6, 1934
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6 min read (1,165 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 6 min read (1,165 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The following-described tracts of land be, and they are hereby, transferred as follows: (a) From War Department to Treasury Department: Beginning at a point marked by tack in wooden hub on the southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 338°33'15"—lt501.38 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"—8,261.80 feet.

⚖️ 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 Private Citizens & Property Owners Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

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 February 6, 1934, this order concerns Interdepartmental Transfer of Lands on Sand and Quarantine Islands, Territory of Hawaii. The following-described tracts of land be, and they are hereby, transferred as follows: (a) From War Department to Treasury Department: Beginning at a point marked by tack in wooden hub on the southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 338°33'15"—lt501.38 feet; and…

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 following-described tracts of land be, and they are hereby, transferred as follows: (a) From War Department to Treasury Department: Beginning at a point marked by tack in wooden hub on the southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 338°33'15"—lt501.38 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"—8,261.80 feet.

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Thence from said initial point, by metes and bounds, (1) 33°37'30"—556.66 feet, along proposed boundary line of land to be transferred to the Department of Commerce, to a point marked by tack in wooden hub; (2) 105°30'30"—500.00 feet, along proposed boundary line of land to be transferred to the War Department, to a point marked by pipe in concrete monument; (3) On a curve to the left, with a radius of 490.00 feet, 357.93 feet along the curve, along boundary line of land under the control of the Treasury Department, the long chord of which bears 160°31'00"—350.02 feet, to a point marked by pipe in concrete monument; (4) 230°30'00"—534.72 feet, along the boundary line of said land, to a point marked by pipe in concrete monument; (5)…

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From Treasury Department to War Department: Beginning at a point marked by pipe in concrete monument on the boundary line of a certain tract of land under the control of the Treasury Department, from which point the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 308°33'57"— 1,712.51 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"— 8,261.80 feet.

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From War Department to Department of Commerce: Beginning at a point marked by tack in wooden hub on the southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 338° 33'15"—1,501.38 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"—8,261.80 feet.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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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
38 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

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

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
1,165
7,100 characters
Estimated Read Time
6 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
10.2
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas Sand and Quarantine Islands, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, are now occupied and used by the Treasury Department, the Department of Commerce, and the War Department; and Whereas the widening and deepening of the entrance channel to the harbor of Honolulu and the enlargement of the harbor basin are essential to the safe and convenient navigation of said harbor; and Whereas the plan and project of widening and deepening said channel and the enlargement of said harbor were approved August 31, 1933, by the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works pursuant to authority contained in the act of Congress approved June 16, 1933 (ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, 201), entitled "An Act to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes"; and Whereas the plan and project of the improvement to said harbor, as approved, require the cutting off of part of Sand and Quarantine Islands now under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department, the Department of Commerce, and the War Department and the relocation, either in whole or in part, of the facilities of said Departments elsewhere on said islands; Now, Therefore , by virtue of the authority vested in me under section 91 of the act of April 30, 1900 (ch. 339, 31 Stat. 159), as amended by section 7 of the act of May 27, 1910 (ch. 258, 36 Stat. 447), and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered that the following-described tracts of land be, and they are hereby, transferred as follows: (a) From War Department to Treasury Department: Beginning at a point marked by tack in wooden hub on the southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 338°33'15"—lt501.38 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"—8,261.80 feet. Thence from said initial point, by metes and bounds, (1) 33°37'30"—556.66 feet, along proposed boundary line of land to be transferred to the Department of Commerce, to a point marked by tack in wooden hub; (2) 105°30'30"—500.00 feet, along proposed boundary line of land to be transferred to the War Department, to a point marked by pipe in concrete monument; (3) On a curve to the left, with a radius of 490.00 feet, 357.93 feet along the curve, along boundary line of land under the control of the Treasury Department, the long chord of which bears 160°31'00"—350.02 feet, to a point marked by pipe in concrete monument; (4) 230°30'00"—534.72 feet, along the boundary line of said land, to a point marked by pipe in concrete monument; (5) 304°33'00"—600.00 feet, along southern boundary of Reserved Channel Honolulu Harbor, to the place of beginning, containing an area of 9.84 acres, more or less, said tract being part of the land set aside for military purposes by Executive Order No. 3358, dated November 24, 1920. (b) From Treasury Department to War Department: Beginning at a point marked by pipe in concrete monument on the boundary line of a certain tract of land under the control of the Treasury Department, from which point the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 308°33'57"— 1,712.51 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"— 8,261.80 feet. Thence from said initial point, by metes and bounds, (1) 285°30'30"—1,819.30 feet, to a point; (2) 328°37'02"—310.22 feet, to a point; (3) 56°23'00"—250.00 feet, to a point; (4) 146°23'00"—460.00 feet, to a point; (5) 105°30'35"—1,520.00 feet, to a point marked by copper plate in concrete monument; (6) On a curve to the left, with a radius of 490.00 feet, 101.18 feet along the curve, the long chord of which bears 187°20'20"—101.00 feet, to the place of beginning, containing an area of 6.10 acres, more or less, said tract being part of the land transferred to the Marine Hospital Service by section 97 of the act of Congress approved April 30, 1900 (ch. 339, 31 Stat. 141, 160). (c) From War Department to Department of Commerce: Beginning at a point marked by tack in wooden hub on the southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "North Base" is 338° 33'15"—1,501.38 feet; and from said "North Base" the azimuth and distance to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station Punchbowl is 247°34'52.4"—8,261.80 feet. Thence from said initial point, by metes and bounds, (1) 304°33'00"—400.00 feet, along southern boundary of Reserved Channel, Honolulu Harbor, to a point marked by tack in wooden hub; (2) 33°43'50"—419.60 feet, to a point marked by tack in wooden hub; (3) 105°30'30"—420.00 feet, along proposed boundary line of land to be transferred to the War Department, to a point marked by tack in wooden hub; (4) 213°37'30"—556.66 feet, along proposed boundary lino of land to be transferred to the Treasury Department, to the place of beginning, containing an area of 4.48 acres, more or less, said tract being part of the land set aside for military purposes by Executive Order No. 3358, dated November 24, 1920. (d) From Department of Commerce to War Department: Beginning at a point from which the azimuth (measured clockwise from true south) and distance to concrete monument marked "US" and designated as "Lighthouse" is 326°26'50"—150.00 feet. Thence from said initial point, by metes and bounds, (1) 236°26'50"—50.00 feet, to a point; (2) 322°38,05"—208.52 feet, to a point; (3) l°54'00"—330.00 feet, to a point; (4) 108o22'00"—63.00 feet, to a point; (5) 112°57'30"—220.00 feet, to a point; (6) 146°26'50"—243.80 feet, to a point; (7) 236°26'50"—287.80 feet, to the place of beginning, containing an area of 2.81 acres, more or less, said tract being that land occupied by the Department of Commerce by virtue of permission granted by the Secretary of War on August 12, 1911, and Executive Order No. 2732, dated October 13, 1917. Upon cessation of use of the lands hereby transferred to the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and formal notice thereof by said Departments to the War Department, such lands shall revert to the control and jurisdiction of the War Department as part of the military reservation of Sand Island. It is also ordered that such portions of the land contemplated to be removed under the plan and project of widening and deepening the channel and the enlargement of the harbor of Honolulu, as approved, are hereby set aside for use of the War Department in connection with the improvements to the said harbor. This order shall continue in full force and effect unless and until revoked by the President or by act of Congress. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, February 6, 1934.

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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. 6584 (Feb. 6, 1934), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6584-interdepartmental-transfer-lands-sand-and-quarantine-islands.