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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 9790 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 9790—Amending Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, Establishing the Wheeler Migratory Waterfowl Refuge

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Monday, October 14, 1946
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4 min read (705 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (705 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The said Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, be, and it is hereby, amended by adding thereto at the end thereof the following: "the following-described land consisting of one hundred thirty-three (1233) acres, more or less, in Morgan County, Alabama, is hereby eliminated from the said refuge, and all rights to the use of the land by the Department are hereby terminated with full jurisdiction over the land reverting to the Authority for the purposes of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended: 21, T.5S., R4W., on the left bank of the Tennessee River, approximately 1 ½ miles southeast of Keller Memorial Bridge across the Tennessee River at Decatur, and more particularly described as follows: "Beginning at US-TVA Monument 58…

⚖️ 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 Harry S Truman on October 14, 1946, this order concerns Amending Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, Establishing the Wheeler Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. The said Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, be, and it is hereby, amended by adding thereto at the end thereof the following: "the following-described land consisting of one hundred thirty-three (1233) acres, more or less, in Morgan County, Alabama, is hereby eliminated from the said refuge, and all rights to the use of the land by the Department are hereby terminated with full jurisdiction over the land…

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 said Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, be, and it is hereby, amended by adding thereto at the end thereof the following: "the following-described land consisting of one hundred thirty-three (1233) acres, more or less, in Morgan County, Alabama, is hereby eliminated from the said refuge, and all rights to the use of the land by the Department are hereby terminated with full jurisdiction over the land reverting to the Authority for the purposes of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended: 21, T.5S., R4W., on the left bank of the Tennessee River, approximately 1 ½ miles southeast of Keller Memorial Bridge across the Tennessee River at Decatur, and more particularly described as follows: "Beginning at US-TVA Monument 58…

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The contour elevation is based on Mean Sea Level Datum as established by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's Southeastern Supplementary Adjustment of 1936.

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The boundary markers designated 'US-TVA Monument' are concrete monuments capped by bronze tablets imprinted with the given numbers and 'T.5S., R.4W.' "In the event that the Department and the Authority shall desire to exclude other lands from the said refuge, the parties shall enter into formal agreements designating the particular areas to be excluded and certifying that the exclusion of such areas is in the public interest and consistent with the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act.

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Such agreements when formally executed and published in the FEDERAL REGISTER shall automatically eliminate the said lands from the refuge without further action by the President or otherwise."

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
705
4,322 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 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

WHEREAS the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter designated as the Department) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (hereinafter designated as the Authority) have cooperated in the administration of the Wheeler Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, established by Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, and renamed the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge by Proclamation No. 2416 of July 25, 1940; and WHEREAS the Department and the Authority have engaged in studies of the boundaries of the said refuge, and have determined that certain adjustments in such boundaries are now desirable, and that additional adjustments will become desirable from time to time in the interests of the Government and of the public; and WHEREAS pursuant to such studies and determinations the Department and the Authority have recommended the present elimination from the refuge of a certain tract of land hereinafter described, and have further recommended that provision be made for the elimination of other tracts from the refuge upon mutual agreement of the said agencies; and WHEREAS it appears that such recommendations are consistent with the purposes of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 831, 831a et seq.), and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 715a et seq.), and are in the public interest:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and in the interest of the internal management of the Government, it is ordered that the said Executive Order No. 7926 of July 7, 1938, be, and it is hereby, amended by adding thereto at the end thereof the following: "the following-described land consisting of one hundred thirty-three (1233) acres, more or less, in Morgan County, Alabama, is hereby eliminated from the said refuge, and all rights to the use of the land by the Department are hereby terminated with full jurisdiction over the land reverting to the Authority for the purposes of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended: 21, T.5S., R4W., on the left bank of the Tennessee River, approximately 1 ½ miles southeast of Keller Memorial Bridge across the Tennessee River at Decatur, and more particularly described as follows: "Beginning at US-TVA Monument 58 (Coordinates: N. 1,671,716; E. 666, 664) in the line between sections 21 and 22, T.5S., R.4W; "From the initial point by bearings and distances, N. 53° 07' W., 3540 feet to a point in the east corporation boundary of the City of Decatur, Northerly, with said east corporation boundary, 300 feet to a point, S. 50° 07' E, 650 feet, to a point, N. 78° 53' E., 330 feet to a point, N 12° 53' E., 430 feet, to a point on the south bank of the Tennessee River, Northwesterly, approximately 3900 feet to a point in the in between Morgan and Limestone Counties and the center line of the channel of the Tennessee River, Southeasterly, with said county line and upstream with the center line of the channel, approximately 5690 feet to a point in the prolongation of the line between sections 21 and 22. Southerly with prolongation of said section line, approximately 960 feet to a pint on the south bank of the Tennessee River, Southerly with line between sections 21 and 22, approximately 1120 feet to the pint of beginning. "The positions of corners and directions of lines are referred to the Alabama (West) State Coordinate System. The contour elevation is based on Mean Sea Level Datum as established by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's Southeastern Supplementary Adjustment of 1936. The boundary markers designated 'US-TVA Monument' are concrete monuments capped by bronze tablets imprinted with the given numbers and 'T.5S., R.4W.' "In the event that the Department and the Authority shall desire to exclude other lands from the said refuge, the parties shall enter into formal agreements designating the particular areas to be excluded and certifying that the exclusion of such areas is in the public interest and consistent with the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act. Such agreements when formally executed and published in the FEDERAL REGISTER shall automatically eliminate the said lands from the refuge without further action by the President or otherwise." HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

October 14, 1946

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9790 (Oct. 14, 1946), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9790-amending-executive-order-no-7926-july-7-1938-establishing-the-wheeler.