By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered that the following-described portion of the Mayaguez Barracks Military Reservation at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, reserved by Executive order of June 30, 1903, under the provisions of the act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 731, for military purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and jurisdiction of the War Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Federal building purposes: Beginning at a stone monument, being the intersection of the southerly line of Boulevard Balboa with the westerly side of Calle Mangos, thence N. 51° 14' W. two hundred ninety-eight and eight-tenths (298.8) feet along the southerly side of Boulevard Balboa to a stone; thence S. 26° 52' W. one hundred sixty-five (165) feet to a point; thence S. 51° 14' E. parallel with Boulevard Balboa to the west side of Calle Mangos; thence N. 37° 57' E. to the point of beginning. The transfer of the control and jurisdiction of the aforesaid tract to the Treasury Department is subject to the condition that in the event such tract shall cease to be used for Federal building purposes, and upon formal notification thereof by the Treasury Department to the War Department, the control and jurisdiction over the said tract shall revert to the War Department. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, February 11, 1936.
Executive Order 7288 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 7288—Transferring to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Treasury Department a Portion of the Site of the Mayaguez Barracks Military Reservation at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (237 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
The following-described portion of the Mayaguez Barracks Military Reservation at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, reserved by Executive order of June 30, 1903, under the provisions of the act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 731, for military purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and jurisdiction of the War Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Federal building purposes: Beginning at a stone monument, being the intersection of the southerly line of Boulevard Balboa with the westerly side of Calle Mangos, thence N. 51° 14' W. two hundred ninety-eight and eight-tenths (298.8) feet along the southerly side of Boulevard Balboa to a stone; thence S. 26° 52' W. one hundred sixty-five (165) feet to a…
⚖️ 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 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 11, 1936, this order concerns Transferring to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Treasury Department a Portion of the Site of the Mayaguez Barracks Military Reservation at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The following-described portion of the Mayaguez Barracks Military Reservation at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, reserved by Executive order of June 30, 1903, under the provisions of the act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 731, for military purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and jurisdiction of the War Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Federal building purposes…
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
▪
The following-described portion of the Mayaguez Barracks Military Reservation at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, reserved by Executive order of June 30, 1903, under the provisions of the act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 731, for military purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and jurisdiction of the War Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Federal building purposes: Beginning at a stone monument, being the intersection of the southerly line of Boulevard Balboa with the westerly side of Calle Mangos, thence N. 51° 14' W. two hundred ninety-eight and eight-tenths (298.8) feet along the southerly side of Boulevard Balboa to a stone; thence S. 26° 52' W. one hundred sixty-five (165) feet to a…
▪
The transfer of the control and jurisdiction of the aforesaid tract to the Treasury Department is subject to the condition that in the event such tract shall cease to be used for Federal building purposes, and upon formal notification thereof by the Treasury Department to the War Department, the control and jurisdiction over the said tract shall revert to the War Department.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
Policy Areas & Topics
🏛️
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§
"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
📐
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
30 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
Moderate Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
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%).
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
237
1,415 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
10.9
High School
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt around this period.
EO 7287 Feb 10, 1936
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7287—Selection of Members of the Central Statistical Board
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
The thirteen members, other than the Chairman, of the Central Statistical Board (hereinafter referred to as the "Board") established by the said act shall be selected as follows: (a) Six members of the Board shall be designated members.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 7295 Feb 14, 1936
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7295—Establishing Lake Bowdoin Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, Montana
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
That all the following-described public lands, surveyed or unsurveyed, be, and they are hereby, reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of Agriculture as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife; and (2) that such part of said lands as…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Grade 7 • 2m
EO 7294 Feb 14, 1936
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7294—Waiver of the Time Limit Provided in Civil-Service Rule IX to Permit the Reinstatement in the Postal Service of Mrs. Nell J. Kline
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
The time Emit specified by civil-service rule IX may be waived to permit the reinstatement of Mrs. Nell J. Kline to a clerical position in the Postal Service.
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 1m
EO 7293 Feb 14, 1936
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7293—Regulations Governing the Granting of Allowances for Quarters and Subsistence to Enlisted Men
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of allowances for quarters and subsistence for enlisted men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Public Health Service who are not furnished quarters or rations in kind…
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 4m
EO 7292 Feb 14, 1936
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7292—Establishing Lake Andes Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, South Dakota
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The following-described lands, acquired or to be acquired by the United States, in Charles Mix County, South Dakota, consisting of 365 acres, more or less, be, and they are hereby, reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of Agriculture, subject to valid existing…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Grade 9 • 5m
EO 7291 Feb 14, 1936
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7291—Exemption of Charles J. Evans from Compulsory Retirement For Age
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Exempt Charles J. Evans from the provisions thereof and continue him in the service until March 1, 1937.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 7288 (Feb. 11, 1936), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7288-transferring-the-control-and-jurisdiction-the-treasury-department.
