I hereby authorize the Administrator of the Works Progress Administration to cause to be made and to adopt for the Works Progress Administration an official seal of such device as the said Administrator shall approve.
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 10, 1936, this order concerns Authorizing the Adoption of a Seal for the Works Progress Administration. I hereby authorize the Administrator of the Works Progress Administration to cause to be made and to adopt for the Works Progress Administration an official seal of such device as the said Administrator shall approve.
I hereby authorize the Administrator of the Works Progress Administration to cause to be made and to adopt for the Works Progress Administration an official seal of such device as the said Administrator shall approve.
Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.
This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.
By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 115), and as President of the United States, I hereby authorize the Administrator of the Works Progress Administration to cause to be made and to adopt for the Works Progress Administration an official seal of such device as the said Administrator shall approve. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT
April 10, 1936.
Other executive actions signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt around this period.
The Executive Order of July 26, 1911, creating Power Site Reserve No. 191, as affected by Power Site Interpretation No. 25, approved June 14, 1922, and by Interpretation No. 32, approved October 14, 1922, is hereby revoked as to the following-described lands: SALT LAKE MERIDIAN…
Franklin D. Roosevelt The initial appointment to each of the following executive positions in the Railroad Retirement Board may be made without compliance with the competitive provisions of the Civil Service Act and Rules, the person proposed for such noncompetitive appointment, however, to…
Franklin D. Roosevelt The following-described lands in Modoc and Siskiyou Counties, California, be, and they are hereby, reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of Agriculture, subject to valid existing rights, as an addition to the Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge established by Executive…
Franklin D. Roosevelt The following-described public land in Alaska be, and it is hereby, temporarily withdrawn from settlement, location, sale or entry, and reserved for use of the Reindeer Service, Department of the Interior: Beginning at corner No. 1, on the shore of Grantley Harbor, at the line…
Franklin D. Roosevelt I hereby designate and authorize the Honorable Martin Travieso, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, to perform and discharge the duties of the Judge of the District Court of the United States for Puerto Rico and to sign all necessary papers and records as…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Executive Order No. 5791 of February 2, 1932, withdrawing public lands in T. 10 S., R. 94 W. of the sixth principal meridian, Colorado, pending a resurvey, is hereby revoked.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Exec. Order No. 7340 (Apr. 10, 1936), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7340-authorizing-the-adoption-seal-for-the-works-progress-administration.
