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Executive Order 7377 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 7377—Transferring Certain Lands to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy in Massachusetts

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Wednesday, May 20, 1936
•
2 min read (373 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (373 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There be, and there is hereby, transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy, all that part of the former United States Naval Destroyer and Submarine Base, Squantum, Massachusetts, containing approximately 468 acres of fast and tide lands, that was transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War by letter of the Secretary of the Navy dated April 4, 1929, and is situate southerly of a line extending from low-water mark of Dorchester Bay to low-water mark of Neponset River, such line being more particularly described as follows: "Beginning at a point on the shore line of Dorchester Bay, approximately 675 feet southeasterly of the southeast building line of Building No. 24, and on the center…

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⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments
Inspect unabridged text ↓

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 May 20, 1936, this order concerns Transferring Certain Lands to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy in Massachusetts. There be, and there is hereby, transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy, all that part of the former United States Naval Destroyer and Submarine Base, Squantum, Massachusetts, containing approximately 468 acres of fast and tide lands, that was transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War by letter of the Secretary of the Navy dated April 4, 1929, and is situate…

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

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There be, and there is hereby, transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy, all that part of the former United States Naval Destroyer and Submarine Base, Squantum, Massachusetts, containing approximately 468 acres of fast and tide lands, that was transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War by letter of the Secretary of the Navy dated April 4, 1929, and is situate southerly of a line extending from low-water mark of Dorchester Bay to low-water mark of Neponset River, such line being more particularly described as follows: "Beginning at a point on the shore line of Dorchester Bay, approximately 675 feet southeasterly of the southeast building line of Building No. 24, and on the center…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense 🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation
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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)
§

"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
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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
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

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
373
2,197 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
14.6
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 act of July 11, 1919, 41 Stat. 131, 132 (U.S.C., Title 10, Sec. 1274), and otherwise, and in the interest of the national defense, it is ordered that there be, and there is hereby, transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy, all that part of the former United States Naval Destroyer and Submarine Base, Squantum, Massachusetts, containing approximately 468 acres of fast and tide lands, that was transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War by letter of the Secretary of the Navy dated April 4, 1929, and is situate southerly of a line extending from low-water mark of Dorchester Bay to low-water mark of Neponset River, such line being more particularly described as follows: "Beginning at a point on the shore line of Dorchester Bay, approximately 675 feet southeasterly of the southeast building line of Building No. 24, and on the center line of the center railroad track of plate yard prolonged; thence southwesterly to a point 25 feet south of the southeasterly end of the southwest wall of Building No. 24; thence paralleling the southwest wall of Building No. 24 to the intersection of the north side of Victory Road; thence following the north side of Victory Road northwesterly to a point 25 feet northwest of the northwesterly building line of Building No. 24; thence northeasterly paralleling the northwesterly building line of Building No. 24 to a point on the southerly side of F Street produced southeasterly; thence northwesterly along the south side of F. Street, a distance of 825 feet more or less; thence northwesterly paralleling the center railroad track of the plate yard at a distance of 15 feet therefrom to the Intersection of the north side of Victory Road; thence northwesterly following the north side of Victory Road for a distance of 1625 feet, more or less, thence in a northwesterly direction on a bearing north 14°0' west to the line of extreme low water of the Neponset River. From the point of beginning the line is produced easterly paralleling the first described line to extreme low water." FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

May 20, 1936.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 7377 (May 20, 1936), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7377-transferring-certain-lands-the-control-and-jurisdiction-the-secretary.