Executive Order 8874 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 8874—Withdrawing Public Lands for Use of the War Department as a Practice Bombing Range

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Thursday, August 28, 1941

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1 min read (298 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1941-08-28, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Withdrawing Public Lands for Use of the War Department as a Practice Bombing Range." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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

▪ This order shall (1) take precedence over, but shall not rescind or revoke, Executive Order No.

▪ 6910 of November 26, 1934, as amended, and (2) shall be subject to the order of the Secretary of the Interior of March 27, 1936, establishing Grazing District No.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Total Words

298

1,549 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

5.7

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8874, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Aug 28, 1941). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8874-withdrawing-public-lands-for-use-the-war-department-practice-bombing.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

NEW MEXICO By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered that, subject to valid existing rights, the public lands in the following-described areas be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as a practice bombing range: NEW MEXICO PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN T. 10 N., R. I E., sec. 1, lots 1 to 8, inclusive; sec. 2, lots 1 to 8, inclusive; sec. 3, lots 1 to 8, inclusive; sec. 4, lots 1 to 8, inclusive; sec. 5, lots 1 to 8, inclusive. T. 11 N., R. 1 E., sec. 13, lots 1 to 4, inclusive; sec. 14, lots 1 to 4, inclusive; sec. 15, lots 1 to 4, inclusive; sec. 16, lots 1 to 4, inclusive; sec. 17, lots 2 to 5, inclusive; secs. 20 to 28, inclusive: sec. 29, lots 1. 2 and 3, E½ and NE¼NW¼; sec. 32, lots 1, 2 and 3, E½, SW¼SW¼ and E½SW¼; secs. 33 to 36, inclusive. T 10 N., R. 2 E., sec. 6, lots I to 8, inclusive. T. 11 N., R. 2 E., sec. 18, lots 1 to 4, inclusive, S½S½; secs. 19, 30 and 31. The areas described, including both public and non-public lands, aggregate 14,115.32 acres. This order shall (1) take precedence over, but shall not rescind or revoke, Executive Order No. 6910 of November 26, 1934, as amended, and (2) shall be subject to the order of the Secretary of the Interior of March 27, 1936, establishing Grazing District No. 2, New Mexico, so far as such orders affect any of the lands in the above-described areas. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, August 28, 1941.