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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 6898 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service

Executive Order 6898—Authorizing Appointments to Certain Temporary Positions in the Department of Agriculture Without Regard to Civil-Service Rules

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Thursday, November 8, 1934
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1 min read (291 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 1 min read (291 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Secretary of Agriculture may employ, within the limits of the allocation of funds made to him by Executive Order No. 6766, in the District of Columbia, or elsewhere, such personnel, additional to that now in the service of the United States, as he may deem necessary in connection with the conservation work authorized by the said act of March 31, 1933, without regard to the requirements of the civil service rules.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Public Health & Medical Institutions

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 November 8, 1934, this order concerns Authorizing Appointments to Certain Temporary Positions in the Department of Agriculture Without Regard to Civil-Service Rules. The Secretary of Agriculture may employ, within the limits of the allocation of funds made to him by Executive Order No. 6766, in the District of Columbia, or elsewhere, such personnel, additional to that now in the service of the United States, as he may deem necessary in connection with the conservation work authorized by the said act of March 31, 1933, without regard to the requirements of the civil service rules.

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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The Secretary of Agriculture may employ, within the limits of the allocation of funds made to him by Executive Order No. 6766, in the District of Columbia, or elsewhere, such personnel, additional to that now in the service of the United States, as he may deem necessary in connection with the conservation work authorized by the said act of March 31, 1933, without regard to the requirements of the civil service rules.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
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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

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
55 / 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

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
291
1,744 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
13
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas by Executive Order No. 6766, dated June 29, 1934, there was allocated the sum of $2,500,000 from the appropriation made by the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, approved June 19, 1934 (Public, No. 412, 73d Cong.), for carrying out the purposes of the act entitled "An Act for the relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work, and for other purposes", approved March 31, 1933 (ch. 17, 48 Stat. 22), to the Secretary of Agriculture for conservation work in connection with the restoration, improvement, and development of wild-life refuges; and Whereas the period during which the said conservation work may be performed, expires March 31, 1935; and Whereas the positions to be created for the purpose of performing the said conservation work are of a temporary nature; and Whereas the selection of persons without regard to the requirements of the civil-service rules to perform the said conservation work will expedite the employment of citizens of the United States who are now unemployed: Now, Therefore , by virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of March 31, 1933 (ch. 17, 48 Stat. 22), and the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935 (Public, No. 412, 73d Cong.), it is hereby ordered that the Secretary of Agriculture may employ, within the limits of the allocation of funds made to him by Executive Order No. 6766, in the District of Columbia, or elsewhere, such personnel, additional to that now in the service of the United States, as he may deem necessary in connection with the conservation work authorized by the said act of March 31, 1933, without regard to the requirements of the civil service rules. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, Nov. 8, 1934.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 6898 (Nov. 8, 1934), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6898-authorizing-appointments-certain-temporary-positions-the-department.