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Executive Order 8493 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

Executive Order 8493—Amendment of Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as Amended

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Thursday, July 25, 1940
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3 min read (503 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (503 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do hereby amend Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended, amending Executive Order No. 6560 of January 15, 1934, by adding the following sections after section 12 thereof: "Section 13 A. The following are prohibited except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of rulings, regulations, instructions, licenses, or otherwise: "(1) The acquisition, disposition or transfer of, or other dealing in, or with respect to, any security or evidence thereof on which there is stamped or imprinted, or to which there is affixed or otherwise attached, a tax stamp or other stamp of a foreign country designated in this Order, or a notarial or…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Foreign Nations & International Entities Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

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 July 25, 1940, this order concerns Amendment of Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as Amended. I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do hereby amend Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended, amending Executive Order No. 6560 of January 15, 1934, by adding the following sections after section 12 thereof: "Section 13 A. The following are prohibited except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of rulings, regulations, instructions…

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

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I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do hereby amend Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended, amending Executive Order No. 6560 of January 15, 1934, by adding the following sections after section 12 thereof: "Section 13 A. The following are prohibited except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of rulings, regulations, instructions, licenses, or otherwise: "(1) The acquisition, disposition or transfer of, or other dealing in, or with respect to, any security or evidence thereof on which there is stamped or imprinted, or to which there is affixed or otherwise attached, a tax stamp or other stamp of a foreign country designated in this Order, or a notarial or…

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"(2) The acquisition by, or transfer to, any person within the United States of any interest in any security or evidence thereof if the attendant circumstances disclose or indicate that the security or evidence thereof is not physically situated within the United States.

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"B. The Secretary of the Treasury may investigate, regulate, or prohibit under such rulings, regulations, or instructions as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, the sending, mailing, importing or otherwise bringing, directly or indirectly, into the United States, from any foreign country, of any securities or evidences thereof or the receiving or holding in the United States of any securities or evidences thereof so brought into the United States.

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The provisions of General Ruling No. 5 of June 6, 1940, and all instructions issued pursuant thereto, are hereby continued in full force and effect, subject to amendment, modification or revocation pursuant to the provisions of this Order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

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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 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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: Supportive of Execution
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
35 / 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

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ 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
503
3,076 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.1
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 411), as amended, and by virtue of all other authority vested in me, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America , do hereby amend Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended, amending Executive Order No. 6560 of January 15, 1934, by adding the following sections after section 12 thereof: "Section 13 A. The following are prohibited except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of rulings, regulations, instructions, licenses, or otherwise: "(1) The acquisition, disposition or transfer of, or other dealing in, or with respect to, any security or evidence thereof on which there is stamped or imprinted, or to which there is affixed or otherwise attached, a tax stamp or other stamp of a foreign country designated in this Order, or a notarial or similar seal which by its contents indicates that it was stamped, imprinted, affixed or attached within such foreign country, or where the attendant circumstances disclose or indicate that such a stamp or seal may, at any time, have been stamped, imprinted, affixed or attached thereto. "(2) The acquisition by, or transfer to, any person within the United States of any interest in any security or evidence thereof if the attendant circumstances disclose or indicate that the security or evidence thereof is not physically situated within the United States. "B. The Secretary of the Treasury may investigate, regulate, or prohibit under such rulings, regulations, or instructions as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, the sending, mailing, importing or otherwise bringing, directly or indirectly, into the United States, from any foreign country, of any securities or evidences thereof or the receiving or holding in the United States of any securities or evidences thereof so brought into the United States. The provisions of General Ruling No. 5 of June 6, 1940, and all instructions issued pursuant thereto, are hereby continued in full force and effect, subject to amendment, modification or revocation pursuant to the provisions of this Order. "C. In the case of any transaction covered by this section, an application for license may be filed in the manner indicated in the Regulations of April 10, 1940, as amended, issued pursuant to this Order. "D. The Regulations of November 12, 1934, are hereby modified in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this section. "Section 14. The Secretary of the Treasury may require any person to furnish under oath, complete information relative to any transaction referred to in this Order, or with respect to any property in which any foreign country designated in this Order, or any national thereof, has any interest, including the production of any books of account, contracts, letters, or other papers, in connection therewith, in the custody or control of such person, either before or after such transaction is completed." FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, July 25, 1940.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8493 (July 25, 1940), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8493-amendment-executive-order-no-8389-april-10-1940-amended.