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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 9390 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 9390—Transferring the Use, Possession, and Control of Certain Lands in the Nantahala National Forest From the Department of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority

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Monday, October 25, 1943
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3 min read (656 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (656 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The use, possession, and control of the lands hereinafter described be, and they are hereby, transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority, for the purposes thereof as stated in the said Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

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 October 25, 1943, this order concerns Transferring the Use, Possession, and Control of Certain Lands in the Nantahala National Forest From the Department of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority. The use, possession, and control of the lands hereinafter described be, and they are hereby, transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority, for the purposes thereof as stated in the said Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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The use, possession, and control of the lands hereinafter described be, and they are hereby, transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority, for the purposes thereof as stated in the said Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933.

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The lands affected by this order are within the Nantahala National Forest in Nantahala Township of Swain County, North Carolina, and are more particularly described as follows: FR-824 Beginning at the common corner of the lands of the United States Forest Service Sallie Woodard, and W.C. Woodard and wife, the coordinates of which referred to the North Carolina Coordinate System are N. 616,040 and E. 639,336; From the initial corner: S. 83°23' E., 481 ft. to United States Forest Service Monument 1109-34 in contour level 1722.63 ft. above mean sea level, as based on the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey's Southeastern Supplementary Adjustment of 1936; Thence southerly along the contour approximately 3050 ft. to the common corner of…

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The transfer of the use, possession, and control of the above-described tracts or parcels of land is made subject to such rights as may be vested in Swain County, North Carolina, or the State of North Carolina to rights-of-way for public roads; and, as to the hereinabove-described tract of land designated as FR-826, to such rights as may be vested in the Southern Railway Company to a right-of-way which affects 1.6 acres.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

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

"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: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)

Mason would scrutinize whether this federal directive intrudes into police powers, land stewardship, or municipal domains historically reserved to local citizens. The Anti-Federalist demand is that federal administration must never supplant state self-governance.

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.

🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
23 / 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

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

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 in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.

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
656
3,810 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
7.9
Grade 8
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 7 (b) of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 63), and by the act of June 4, 1897, 30 Stat. 34, 36 (U.S.C., title 16, sec. 473), it is ordered that the use, possession, and control of the lands hereinafter described be, and they are hereby, transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority, for the purposes thereof as stated in the said Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933. The lands affected by this order are within the Nantahala National Forest in Nantahala Township of Swain County, North Carolina, and are more particularly described as follows: FR-824 Beginning at the common corner of the lands of the United States Forest Service Sallie Woodard, and W.C. Woodard and wife, the coordinates of which referred to the North Carolina Coordinate System are N. 616,040 and E. 639,336; From the initial corner: S. 83°23' E., 481 ft. to United States Forest Service Monument 1109-34 in contour level 1722.63 ft. above mean sea level, as based on the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey's Southeastern Supplementary Adjustment of 1936; Thence southerly along the contour approximately 3050 ft. to the common corner of the land of the United States Forest Service, and the lands now or formerly owned by the Nantahala Power and Light Company, and J.W. Totherow and wife; S. 83°28' W., 160 ft. to a point in the above-designated contour; Thence with the meanders of the contour, N. 35°30', W., 40 ft. to a point; Thence, by metes and bounds, N. 20°58' E., 1130 ft. to a point; N. 15°02' E., 1018 ft. to the place of beginning. The tract as described contains 10.6 acres. FR-825 Beginning at a point in the boundary line between the lands of the United States Forest Service, and J.W. Totherow and wife, the coordinates of which referred to the North Carolina Coordinate System are N. 612,424 and E. 637,321 and from which a 4-in. dogwood tree at a common corner of the lands now or formerly owned by the Nantahala Power and Light Company, and J.W. Totherow and wife bears S. 5°00' E., 360 ft. distant; From the initial point: S. 5°00' E., 220 ft. to a point in contour level 1722.63 ft. above mean sea level, as based on the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey's Southeastern Supplementary Adjustment of 1936; Thence westerly along the contour approximately 1150 ft. to a point; Thence, by metes and bounds, N. 43°20' E., 170 ft. to a point; S. 66°07' E., 756 ft. to the point of beginning. The tract as described contains 3.1 acres. FR-826 Beginning at a point in the boundary line between the lands of the United States Forest Service, and the G.H. Bryant Heirs, the coordinates of which referred to the North Carolina Coordinate System are N. 609,605 and E. 632,250; From the initial point: S. 60°00' E., 115 ft. to United States Forest Service Monument 1107-34 in contour level 1722.63 ft. above mean sea level, as based on the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey's Southeastern Supplementary Adjustment of 1936; Thence southerly along the contour approximately 1260 ft. to a point; Thence, by metes and bounds, N. 31°44' E., 681 ft. to a point; N. 31°34' E., 495 ft. to the point of beginning. The tract as described contains 3.9 acres. The direction of lines are referred to the North Carolina Coordinate System. The transfer of the use, possession, and control of the above-described tracts or parcels of land is made subject to such rights as may be vested in Swain County, North Carolina, or the State of North Carolina to rights-of-way for public roads; and, as to the hereinabove-described tract of land designated as FR-826, to such rights as may be vested in the Southern Railway Company to a right-of-way which affects 1.6 acres. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, October 25, 1943.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9390 (Oct. 25, 1943), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9390-transferring-the-use-possession-and-control-certain-lands-the.