NEW YORK By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and in order to effectuate further the purposes of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act (45 Stat. 1222), it is ordered that the following-described area, on Gardiners Island, Suffolk County, New York, be, and it is 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: The property known as the Fort Tyler Military reservation bounding on Gardiners Bay, and more definitely described as follows: All that part of the north point of Gardiners Island lying northwest of a line described and running as follows: Starting from a stake on a sand ridge and running thence north 56 degrees east, and south 56 degrees west, to the waters on each side of said point, or beach, respectively, and bounded north, east, and west by the waters of Gardiners Bay, and southeasterly by the beach at the aforesaid line, containing about 14 acres, more or less. The above-described property has been declared by the War Department to be surplus to its needs, and the reservation made by this order is subject to the right of the Director of Procurement to dispose of such property in accordance with the provisions of the act of August 27, 1935, c. 774, 49 Stat. 885. This reservation shall be known as the Fort Tyler Migratory Bird Refuge. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, August 2, 1938.
Executive Order 7941—Establishing the Fort Tyler Migratory Bird Refuge
Executive Brief • At a Glance
The following-described area, on Gardiners Island, Suffolk County, New York, be, and it is 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: The property known as the Fort Tyler Military reservation bounding on Gardiners Bay, and more definitely described as follows: All that part of the north point of Gardiners Island lying northwest of a line described and running as follows: Starting from a stake on a sand ridge and running thence north 56 degrees east, and south 56 degrees west, to the waters on each side of said point, or beach, respectively, and bounded north, east, and west by the waters of Gardiners Bay, and southeasterly by the beach…
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 August 2, 1938, this order concerns Establishing the Fort Tyler Migratory Bird Refuge. The following-described area, on Gardiners Island, Suffolk County, New York, be, and it is 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: The property known as the Fort Tyler Military reservation bounding on Gardiners Bay, and more definitely described as follows: All that part of the north point of Gardiners Island…
Key Directives & Operative Actions
The following-described area, on Gardiners Island, Suffolk County, New York, be, and it is 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: The property known as the Fort Tyler Military reservation bounding on Gardiners Bay, and more definitely described as follows: All that part of the north point of Gardiners Island lying northwest of a line described and running as follows: Starting from a stake on a sand ridge and running thence north 56 degrees east, and south 56 degrees west, to the waters on each side of said point, or beach, respectively, and bounded north, east, and west by the waters of Gardiners Bay, and southeasterly by the beach…
This reservation shall be known as the Fort Tyler Migratory Bird Refuge.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
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.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.
Due Process & Individual Rights
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
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.
This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 7941 (Aug. 2, 1938), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7941-establishing-the-fort-tyler-migratory-bird-refuge.