★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
🎲
Cite
Executive Order 8319 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations

Executive Order 8319—Changing the Name of the Necedah Migratory Waterfowl Refuge and Adding Certain Lands Thereto

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Monday, January 15, 1940
•
2 min read (318 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (318 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The name of the Necedah Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, established by Executive Order No. 8065 of March 14, 1939, is hereby changed to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

View all 3 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Public Health & Medical Institutions
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 January 15, 1940, this order concerns Changing the Name of the Necedah Migratory Waterfowl Refuge and Adding Certain Lands Thereto. The name of the Necedah Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, established by Executive Order No. 8065 of March 14, 1939, is hereby changed to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Sec. 2. The following-described lands, comprising 39.09 acres, more or less, in Juneau County, Wisconsin, acquired under the authority of Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act, approved June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 200), and the Emergency Relief…

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪

The name of the Necedah Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, established by Executive Order No. 8065 of March 14, 1939, is hereby changed to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

▪

The following-described lands, comprising 39.09 acres, more or less, in Juneau County, Wisconsin, acquired under the authority of Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act, approved June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 200), and the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, approved April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115), and transferred by Executive Order No. 7908 of June 9, 1938, to the Secretary of Agriculture for use, administration, and disposition in accordance with the provisions of Title III of the said Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, are, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, hereby transferred from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior and, subject to valid rights, added to and reserved as a part of the…

▪

It is unlawful for any person to hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird or wild animal of any kind whatsoever within the limits of the above-described area, or to enter thereon, except under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Agriculture 🏷️ Energy & Environment
🏛️

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

"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: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
38 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

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
318
1,914 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
10.5
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (3 sections)
Sec. 1Sec. 2Sec. 3

WISCONSIN By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and by section 32 of Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, approved July 22, 1937 (50 Stat. 522, 525), it is ordered as follows:

Sec. 1. #sec-1

The name of the Necedah Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, established by Executive Order No. 8065 of March 14, 1939, is hereby changed to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

The following-described lands, comprising 39.09 acres, more or less, in Juneau County, Wisconsin, acquired under the authority of Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act, approved June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 200), and the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, approved April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115), and transferred by Executive Order No. 7908 of June 9, 1938, to the Secretary of Agriculture for use, administration, and disposition in accordance with the provisions of Title III of the said Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, are, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, hereby transferred from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior and, subject to valid rights, added to and reserved as a part of the said Necedah National Wildlife Refuge: FOURTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN T. 20 N., R. 3 E., sec. 6, all that part of the subdivisions in the northeastern part thereof bounded by the following-described lines: Beginning at a point 20 chains west of the northeast corner of sec. 6, thence south 39.08 chains; thence west 10.00 chains: thence north 39.11 chains; thence east 10.00 chains, to the point of beginning.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

It is unlawful for any person to hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird or wild animal of any kind whatsoever within the limits of the above-described area, or to enter thereon, except under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, January 15, 1940.

🔗

Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

Amends Executive Order 8479—Transferring Certain Lands From the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior and Reserving Them as a Part of the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge
Franklin D. Roosevelt • 1940-07-11
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 8319 (Jan. 15, 1940), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8319-changing-the-name-the-necedah-migratory-waterfowl-refuge-and-adding.