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Executive Order 7178 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 7178—Establishing the Hart Mountain Game Range

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Friday, September 6, 1935
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5 min read (1,003 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 5 min read (1,003 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The following-described lands, insofar as title thereto is in the United States, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry and reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wild-life resources and for the protection and improvement of public grazing lands and natural forage resources: Provided , That upon the termination of any private right to, or appropriation of, any public lands within the exterior limits of the area included in this order, such lands shall become part of this preserve: And provided further , That upon the acquisition by the United States of title to any private lands within such limits for wild-life conservation purposes such lands shall become part of the…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities 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 September 6, 1935, this order concerns Establishing the Hart Mountain Game Range. The following-described lands, insofar as title thereto is in the United States, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry and reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wild-life resources and for the protection and improvement of public grazing lands and natural forage resources: Provided , That upon the termination of any private right to, or…

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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The following-described lands, insofar as title thereto is in the United States, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry and reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wild-life resources and for the protection and improvement of public grazing lands and natural forage resources: Provided , That upon the termination of any private right to, or appropriation of, any public lands within the exterior limits of the area included in this order, such lands shall become part of this preserve: And provided further , That upon the acquisition by the United States of title to any private lands within such limits for wild-life conservation purposes such lands shall become part of the…

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This range or preserve, insofar as it relates to conservation and development of wild life, shall be under the joint jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, and they shall have power jointly to make such rules and regulations for its protection, administration, regulation, and improvement, and for the removal and disposition of surplus game animals, as they may deem necessary to accomplish its purposes: Provided, however , That the natural forage resources therein shall be first utilized for the purpose of sustaining in a healthy condition a maximum of four thousand (4,000) antelope, the primary species, and such nonpredatory secondary species in such numbers as may be necessary to maintain a balanced wild-life…

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All persons are hereby informed that sections 52, 53 (as amended), and 84 (as amended) of the Criminal Code of the United States (secs. 106, 107, 145, title 18, U.S.C.), section 2 of the act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1269, 1270), and section 14 of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of February 18, 1929 (sec. 715m, title 16, U.S.C.), prescribe penalties for the commission of the offenses enumerated in the preceding paragraph.

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Executive Order No. 6910, of November 26, 1934, withdrawing for classification and other purposes all vacant, unreserved, and unappropriated public lands in the States of Nevada and Oregon, and certain other States, as amended by Executive Order No. 7048, of May 20, 1935, is hereby further amended to exclude from the provisions of that order as amended the above-described lands.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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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 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: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
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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
47 / 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

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
1,003
5,654 characters
Estimated Read Time
5 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
11.4
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

NEVADA AND OREGON By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of June 25, 1910 (ch. 421, 36 Stat. 847), as amended by the act of August 24, 1912 (ch. 369, 37 Stat. 497), and subject to the conditions therein expressed and to all valid existing rights, it is ordered that the following-described lands, insofar as title thereto is in the United States, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry and reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wild-life resources and for the protection and improvement of public grazing lands and natural forage resources: Provided , That upon the termination of any private right to, or appropriation of, any public lands within the exterior limits of the area included in this order, such lands shall become part of this preserve: And provided further , That upon the acquisition by the United States of title to any private lands within such limits for wild-life conservation purposes such lands shall become part of the preserve, but the grazing rights thereon shall accrue primarily to the use of wild life, and such lands shall not be homesteaded, sold, exchanged, or patented under any law or regulation relating to public lands or the establishment of wild-life refuges or grazing districts. NEVADA MOUNT DIABLO MERIDIAN T. 45 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1, 2, and 3; secs. 10 to 15, inclusive; and secs. 19 to 36, inclusive. T. 46 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1 to 18, inclusive; secs. 22 to 27, inclusive; and secs. 34, 35, and 36. T. 47 N., R. 22 E., all. Tps. 43 to 47 N., inclusive, R. 23 E., all. Tps. 46 and 47 N., R. 23½ E., all. Tps. 43 to 45½ N., inclusive, R. 24 E., all. Tps. 46 and 47 N., R. 24 E., all. Tps. 43 and 44 N., R. 24½ E., all. Tps. 43 to 47 N., inclusive, Rs. 25 and 26 E., all. Tps. 46 and 47 N., R. 27 E., all. T. 46 N., R. 28 E., secs. 5 to 8, inclusive; secs. 17 to 20, inclusive; and secs. 29 to 32, inclusive. T. 47 N., R. 28 E., secs. 19 and 20, and secs. 29 to 32, inclusive, unsurveyed. OREGON WILLAMETTE MERIDIAN Tps. 34 to 39 S., inclusive, Rs. 25 and 26 E., all. Tps. 32 to 41 S., inclusive, R. 27 E., all. Tps. 32 to 39 S., inclusive, Rs. 28 and 29 E., all. This range or preserve, insofar as it relates to conservation and development of wild life, shall be under the joint jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, and they shall have power jointly to make such rules and regulations for its protection, administration, regulation, and improvement, and for the removal and disposition of surplus game animals, as they may deem necessary to accomplish its purposes: Provided, however , That the natural forage resources therein shall be first utilized for the purpose of sustaining in a healthy condition a maximum of four thousand (4,000) antelope, the primary species, and such nonpredatory secondary species in such numbers as may be necessary to maintain a balanced wild-life population, but in no case shall the consumption of forage by the combined population of the wild-life species be allowed to increase the burden of the range dedicated to the primary species: And provided further , That all the lands embraced in this range or preserve may be included within a grazing district established under the authority of the act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1269), or as such act may hereafter be amended, and all the remainder of the forage resources thereof shall be available for domestic livestock under rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior under the authority of that act. It is unlawful within this preserve: ( a ) to hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird or wild animal of any kind whatever, or take or destroy the eggs or nest of any such bird, except in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture; ( b ) to willfully injure, molest, or destroy any property of the United States; ( c ) to willfully set on fire, or cause to be set on fire, any timber, underbrush, or grass, or leave or suffer fire to burn unattended near any timber, or other inflammable material; ( d ) to build a fire in or near any forest, timber, or other inflammable material and leave it without extinguishing it totally; or (e) to occupy or use any part of this preserve, or enter thereon for any purpose, except in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be promulgated in accordance with the purposes of this order. Any person, however, may enter this reservation for the purpose of fishing in accordance with the law of the State in which it is located: Provided , That he complies with the regulations of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture. All persons are hereby informed that sections 52, 53 (as amended), and 84 (as amended) of the Criminal Code of the United States (secs. 106, 107, 145, title 18, U.S.C.), section 2 of the act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1269, 1270), and section 14 of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of February 18, 1929 (sec. 715m, title 16, U.S.C.), prescribe penalties for the commission of the offenses enumerated in the preceding paragraph. Executive Order No. 6910, of November 26, 1934, withdrawing for classification and other purposes all vacant, unreserved, and unappropriated public lands in the States of Nevada and Oregon, and certain other States, as amended by Executive Order No. 7048, of May 20, 1935, is hereby further amended to exclude from the provisions of that order as amended the above-described lands. This preserve shall be known as the Hart Mountain Game Range. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, September 6, 1935.

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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. 7178 (Sept. 6, 1935), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7178-establishing-the-hart-mountain-game-range.