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Executive Order 7298 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 7298—Regulations Governing the Preparation, Presentation, Filing, and Distribution of Executive Orders and Proclamations

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Tuesday, February 18, 1936
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3 min read (678 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (678 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and distribution of Executive orders and proclamations: 1.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

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 18, 1936, this order concerns Regulations Governing the Preparation, Presentation, Filing, and Distribution of Executive Orders and Proclamations. I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and distribution of Executive orders and proclamations: 1. Proposed Executive orders and proclamations shall be prepared in accordance with the following requirements: (a) A suitable title for the order or proclamation shall be provided.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and distribution of Executive orders and proclamations: 1.

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Proposed Executive orders and proclamations shall be prepared in accordance with the following requirements: (a) A suitable title for the order or proclamation shall be provided.

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The authority under which the order or proclamation is promulgated shall be cited in the body thereof.

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Punctuation, capitalization, orthography, and other matters of style shall conform to the most recent edition of the Style Manual of the United States Government Printing Office.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

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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 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)

Mason would scrutinize whether this federal directive intrudes into police powers, land stewardship, or municipal domains historically reserved to local citizens. The Anti-Federalist demand is that federal administration must never supplant state self-governance.

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.

🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
30 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

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

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

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

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

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.

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
678
4,195 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.3
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Federal Register Act, approved July 26, 1935 (49 Stat. 500), and as President of the United States, I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and distribution of Executive orders and proclamations: 1. Proposed Executive orders and proclamations shall be prepared in accordance with the following requirements: (a) A suitable title for the order or proclamation shall be provided. (b) The authority under which the order or proclamation is promulgated shall be cited in the body thereof. (c) Punctuation, capitalization, orthography, and other matters of style shall conform to the most recent edition of the Style Manual of the United States Government Printing Office. (d) The spelling of geographic names shall conform to the most recent official decisions made pursuant to Executive Orders No. 27-A, of September 4, 1890, No. 399, of January 23, 1906, and No. 6680, of April 17, 1934. (e) Descriptions of tracts of lands shall conform, so far as practicable, with the most recent edition of the "Specifications for Descriptions of Tracts of Land for Use in Executive Orders and Proclamations", published by the Federal Board of Surveys and Maps. (f) Proposed Executive orders and proclamations shall be typewritten on paper approximately 8 by 12½ inches, shall have a left-hand margin of approximately 2 inches and a right-hand margin of approximately 1 inch, and shall be doublespaced, except that quotations, tabulations, or descriptions of land may be singlespaced. 2. The proposed Executive order or proclamation shall first be submitted to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget. If the Director of the Bureau of the Budget approves it, he shall transmit it to the Attorney General for his consideration as to both form and legality. If the Attorney General approves it, he shall transmit it to the Director of the Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives. If it conforms to the requirements of paragraph 1 hereof, the Director of the Division of the Federal Register shall transmit it and three copies thereof to the President. If it is disapproved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget or the Attorney General, it shall not thereafter be presented to the President unless it is accompanied by the statement of the reasons for such disapproval. 3. If the order or proclamation is signed by the President, the original and two copies thereof shall be forwarded to the Director of the Division of the Federal Register for appropriate action in conformity with the provisions of the Federal Register Act: Provided , however, That the seal of the United States shall be affixed to the originals of all proclamations prior to such forwarding. The Division of the Federal Register shall cause to be placed upon the copies of all Executive orders and proclamations the following notation, to be signed by the Director or by some person authorized by him: "Certified to be a true copy of the original." The Division of the Federal Register shall number and shall supervise the promulgation, publication, and distribution of all Executive orders and proclamations. 4. The Division of the Federal Register shall cause a limited number of copies of the Executive orders and proclamations not required or authorized to be filed and published under the provisions of the Federal Register Act to be made available in slip form to the appropriate agencies of the Government. 5. The Division of the Federal Register shall file in the National Archives the originals of all Executive orders and proclamations. 6. The signed originals and copies of all Executive orders and proclamations heretofore promulgated and now in the custody of the Department of State shall be transferred to the National Archives. 7. Nothing in this order shall be construed to apply to treaties, conventions, protocols, and other international agreements, or proclamations thereof by the President. 8. This order shall become effective on March 12, 1936, and shall thereupon supersede Executive Order No. 6247, of August 10, 1933. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, February 18, 1936.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (4)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 7298 (Feb. 18, 1936), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7298-regulations-governing-the-preparation-presentation-filing-and.