★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
Cite
Executive Order 7790 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 7790—Amendment of Executive Order No. 7302 of February 21, 1936, Transferring Certain Lands to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy

•
Wednesday, January 12, 1938
•
4 min read (858 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (858 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of March 3, 1917, ch. 171, 39 Stat. 1132, and the Second Deficiency Act, Fiscal Year 1931, 46 Stat. 1552, 1570, and as President of the United States, Executive Order No. 7302 of February 21, 1936, transferring certain lands in the Virgin Islands from the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to the control…

⚖️ 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 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 January 12, 1938, this order concerns Amendment of Executive Order No. 7302 of February 21, 1936, Transferring Certain Lands to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy. By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of March 3, 1917, ch. 171, 39 Stat. 1132, and the Second Deficiency Act, Fiscal Year 1931, 46 Stat. 1552, 1570, and as President of the United States, Executive Order No. 7302 of February 21, 1936, transferring certain lands in the Virgin Islands from the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to the control and jurisdiction of…

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

▪

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of March 3, 1917, ch. 171, 39 Stat. 1132, and the Second Deficiency Act, Fiscal Year 1931, 46 Stat. 1552, 1570, and as President of the United States, Executive Order No. 7302 of February 21, 1936, transferring certain lands in the Virgin Islands from the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to the control…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
🏛️

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
📐

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%).
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
858
4,903 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
8.8
Grade 9
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

VIRGIN ISLANDS By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of March 3, 1917, ch. 171, 39 Stat. 1132, and the Second Deficiency Act, Fiscal Year 1931, 46 Stat. 1552, 1570, and as President of the United States, Executive Order No. 7302 of February 21, 1936, transferring certain lands in the Virgin Islands from the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy for use in the establishment, construction, and operation of aviation facilities, as amended by Executive Order No. 7686 of August 5, 1937, is hereby further amended by adding thereto the following: "It is further ordered that the following-described lands be, and they are hereby, subject to valid existing rights, transferred from the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy for use in the establishment, construction, and operation of aviation facilities: All the lands designated as parcel "A", containing 32.7 acres, more or less, on Public Works Drawing D3-41-T37, dated September 8, 1937, entitled "Survey of Part of Botanical Garden, Estate Lindbergh Bay, St. Thomas, V.I.", shown on plat marked "Exhibit A", attached hereto and made a part hereof, and more particularly described by metes and bounds as follows: 'Beginning at bound post No. 305, the line runs North 86°18' West, a distance of 599.0 feet to a point on the western boundary of Lindbergh Bay Estate, said boundary running between bound posts No. 9 and No. 10 as shown on Public Works Drawing No. A3-12-T33, the point being 1,377 feet North of bound post No. 10, thence uphill, North 1°50' East, a distance of 910 feet to bound post No. 9, thence North 0°24' West, a distance 1,398 feet to bound post No. 264, thence South 74°34' East, a distance of 722.8 feet to bound post No. 267, thence downhill, South 3°09' West, a distance of 2,157.0 feet to bound post No. 305, the point of beginning.' All the lands designated as parcel "C" on said Public Works Drawing D3-41-T37, shown on Exhibit "A", containing 13.2 acres, more or less, adjoining the land to the north of the public road from the town of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, V.I., to John Brewer's Bay, St. Thomas, V.I., designated as parcel "B" on said drawing and exhibit, containing 29.7 acres, more or less (which said parcel "B" has already been transferred to the of the Interior by Executive Order No. control and jurisdiction of the Secretary 7686 of August 5, 1937), the said parcel "C" lying north of the said public road and south and west of the boundary line described by metes and bounds as follows: 'Beginning at bound post "F" established by U.S. Marines in their survey of December, 1936; thence South 89°53' East a distance of 170.0 feet to bound post No. 149 shown on Public Works Drawing A3-12-T33 (Map of Homestead Subdivision of Estate Lindbergh Bay) of February 21, 1933; thence South 87°04' East a distance of 463.4 feet to bound post No. 184, which was the southeast corner of Botanical Garden site; thence North 6°47' West a distance of 422.0 feet to a point to be marked by bound post after transfer; thence North 82°49' West a distance of 342.5 feet to a point to be marked later on the east side of road giving access to the present Botanical Garden; thence North 7°11' East a distance of 49.5 feet alongside of said road to a point to be marked later; thence North 79°09' West a distance of 17.5 feet to a point on the west side of above-mentioned road, to be marked later; thence North 46°29' West a distance of 197.8 feet to a point to be marked later; thence North 55°54' West a distance of 126.0 feet to bound post No. 254, a bound post of the original subdivision shown on Public Works Drawing A3-12-T33; thence following the lines of the original subdivision, North 39°51' West a distance of 421.0 feet to bound post No. 304; thence North 75°43' West a distance of 372.5 feet to bound post No. 306; thence North 19°21' West a distance of 321.5 feet to bound post No. 305. (Said boundary description forms the eastern boundary of that area now occupied by the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp V-l and a part of the Botanical Garden site).' Provided , that that portion of these areas which is now occupied by the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp V-l, shall continue to be available for the use of the Civilian Conservation Corps until such time as the Secretary of the Interior determines that it is no longer needed for such use: Provided further , that the entrance road from the main road to the Botanical Garden shall be available to the public at all times when the Botanical Garden is open to the public: And provided further , that there shall be free ingress and egress at all times over the said road for employees of the Botanical Garden." FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, January 12, 1938.

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 7790 (Jan. 12, 1938), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7790-amendment-executive-order-no-7302-february-21-1936-transferring.