★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
🎲
Cite
Executive Order 8498 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 8498—Transferring to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Treasury Department the Remaining Part of the Site of the Naval Reservation on Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Saturday, July 27, 1940
•
2 min read (308 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (308 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The following-described tract of land on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, Washington, which tract constitutes the remaining part of the area reserved by Executive Order No. 2646 of June 27, 1917, for naval purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and Jurisdiction of the Navy Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Coast Guard purposes: All of the Navy Department Reservation on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, State of Washington, as lies between the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Port Angeles Harbor on the North and South respectively and between the Westerly boundary of the U.S. Coast Guard (Light House) Reservation (Executive Order Number 2646, June 27, 1917) on the East and the…

View all 2 directives ↓
⚖️ 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 Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 July 27, 1940, this order concerns Transferring to the Control and Jurisdiction of the Treasury Department the Remaining Part of the Site of the Naval Reservation on Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington. The following-described tract of land on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, Washington, which tract constitutes the remaining part of the area reserved by Executive Order No. 2646 of June 27, 1917, for naval purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and Jurisdiction of the Navy Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Coast Guard purposes: All of the Navy…

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

▪

The following-described tract of land on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, Washington, which tract constitutes the remaining part of the area reserved by Executive Order No. 2646 of June 27, 1917, for naval purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and Jurisdiction of the Navy Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Coast Guard purposes: All of the Navy Department Reservation on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, State of Washington, as lies between the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Port Angeles Harbor on the North and South respectively and between the Westerly boundary of the U.S. Coast Guard (Light House) Reservation (Executive Order Number 2646, June 27, 1917) on the East and the…

▪

The transfer of the control and jurisdiction over the aforesaid tract of land to the Treasury Department is subject to the condition that in the event such tract shall cease to be used for Coast Guard purposes, and upon formal notification thereof by the Treasury Department to the Navy Department, the control and jurisdiction over the said tract shall revert to the Navy Department.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation 🏷️ National Security & Defense 🏷️ Economy & Finance
🏛️

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
35 / 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

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

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
308
1,833 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.3
College Level
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 1 of the act of June 25, 1910, c. 421, 36 Stat. 847, it is ordered that the following-described tract of land on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, Washington, which tract constitutes the remaining part of the area reserved by Executive Order No. 2646 of June 27, 1917, for naval purposes, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the control and Jurisdiction of the Navy Department to the control and jurisdiction of the Treasury Department for Coast Guard purposes: All of the Navy Department Reservation on Ediz Hook Spit, Port Angeles Harbor, State of Washington, as lies between the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Port Angeles Harbor on the North and South respectively and between the Westerly boundary of the U.S. Coast Guard (Light House) Reservation (Executive Order Number 2646, June 27, 1917) on the East and the Easterly boundary of the U.S. Coast Guard (Air Station) Reservation (Executive Order Number 6594, Feb. 9, 1934) on the West, containing 8 acres more or less, and designated as "This Area Reserved for Submarine and Aviation Base"; all as shown on a tracing bearing the legend "Plat of Ediz Hook showing Proposed Reservation for Submarine and Aviation Base, Port Angeles Harbor, Washington. Surveyed May, 1917—Scale 1"=100' ", which tracing is on file in the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy, Navy Department. The transfer of the control and jurisdiction over the aforesaid tract of land to the Treasury Department is subject to the condition that in the event such tract shall cease to be used for Coast Guard purposes, and upon formal notification thereof by the Treasury Department to the Navy Department, the control and jurisdiction over the said tract shall revert to the Navy Department. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, July 27, 1940.

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 8498 (July 27, 1940), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8498-transferring-the-control-and-jurisdiction-the-treasury-department-the.