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Executive Order 9871 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9871—Regulatons Governing the Granting of Allowances for Quarters and Subsistence to Enlisted Men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, and Per Diem Allowances to Members of Such Services and Coast and Geodetic Survey and Public Health Service on Duty Outside the Continental United States or in Alaska

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Tuesday, July 8, 1947
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6 min read (1,141 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 6 min read (1,141 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of (1) allowances for quarters and subsistence to enlisted men in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who are not furnished quarters or rations in kind; (2) per diem allowances in lieu of actual and necessary expenses to members of the above-mentioned services and members of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and Public Health Service on duty outside the continental United States or in Alaska, whether or not in a travel status; and (3) allowances for quarters to enlisted men of the first, second, and third grades in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard having dependents as defined in section 4 of the said act, for periods…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Public Health & Medical Institutions

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 July 8, 1947, this order concerns Regulatons Governing the Granting of Allowances for Quarters and Subsistence to Enlisted Men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, and Per Diem Allowances to Members of Such Services and Coast and Geodetic Survey and Public Health Service on Duty Outside the Continental United States or in Alaska. I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of (1) allowances for quarters and subsistence to enlisted men in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who are not furnished quarters or rations in kind; (2) per diem allowances in lieu of actual and necessary expenses to members of the above-mentioned services and members of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and Public…

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

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I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of (1) allowances for quarters and subsistence to enlisted men in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who are not furnished quarters or rations in kind; (2) per diem allowances in lieu of actual and necessary expenses to members of the above-mentioned services and members of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and Public Health Service on duty outside the continental United States or in Alaska, whether or not in a travel status; and (3) allowances for quarters to enlisted men of the first, second, and third grades in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard having dependents as defined in section 4 of the said act, for periods…

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No allowance for subsistence shall be paid for the day on which a man arrives at a station after 6 o'clock P.M. C. In determining station allowance for quarters, a fractional part of a day shall be computed as a whole day; payment for station allowance shall accrue from midnight; and station allowance shall be paid for the day of arrival at, but not for the day of departure from, a permanent station.

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D. Men traveling on duty, including detentions not exceeding thirty-one days at any one place, when not furnished sleeping-car or stateroom accommodations or other quarters and rations in kind, shall be granted a daily allowance of $5.00: Provided, that when quarters in kind are furnished they shall be entitled only to an allowance for subsistence at the rate of $1.00 per meal, and when subsistence is furnished they shall be entitled only to an allowance for quarters at the rate of $2.00 per day; except that where travel is performed by rail or water, the allowance for subsistence shall be $1.25 for each meal required to be taken in a dining car on a train or in a dining room on a steamer, and if quarters are not provided for the day of…

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E. For the purposes of this section, quarters in kind shall be considered as furnished for the day of arrival at a permanent station.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
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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 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"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
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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
48 / 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

High Friction

Scrutinized under the Bill of Rights for potential impact on private contracts, property rights, or procedural due process.

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%).
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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
1,141
6,613 characters
Estimated Read Time
6 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17
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 and pursuant to the authority vested in me by sections 10 and 12 of the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942, as amended (56 Stat. 363, 364, 60 Stat. 853, 858; 37 U.S.C. Sup. 110, 112), I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of (1) allowances for quarters and subsistence to enlisted men in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who are not furnished quarters or rations in kind; (2) per diem allowances in lieu of actual and necessary expenses to members of the above-mentioned services and members of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and Public Health Service on duty outside the continental United States or in Alaska, whether or not in a travel status; and (3) allowances for quarters to enlisted men of the first, second, and third grades in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard having dependents as defined in section 4 of the said act, for periods during which public quarters are not provided and available for such dependents: PART I A. Enlisted men on duty where quarters or rations in kind are not furnished shall be granted daily allowances as follows: [INSERT TABLE, PAGE 655] B. Upon arrival at or departure from a station where allowances for subsistence are paid, such allowances shall be computed as follows, the day to begin at midnight: For 18 hours or more at the station, one whole day; for 12 hours or more but less than 18 hours at the station, two-thirds of one day; for 6 hours or more but less than 12 hours at the station, one-third of one day. No allowance for subsistence shall be paid for the day on which a man arrives at a station after 6 o'clock P.M. C. In determining station allowance for quarters, a fractional part of a day shall be computed as a whole day; payment for station allowance shall accrue from midnight; and station allowance shall be paid for the day of arrival at, but not for the day of departure from, a permanent station. D. Men traveling on duty, including detentions not exceeding thirty-one days at any one place, when not furnished sleeping-car or stateroom accommodations or other quarters and rations in kind, shall be granted a daily allowance of $5.00: Provided, that when quarters in kind are furnished they shall be entitled only to an allowance for subsistence at the rate of $1.00 per meal, and when subsistence is furnished they shall be entitled only to an allowance for quarters at the rate of $2.00 per day; except that where travel is performed by rail or water, the allowance for subsistence shall be $1.25 for each meal required to be taken in a dining car on a train or in a dining room on a steamer, and if quarters are not provided for the day of such travel, the allowance for quarters shall be $1.75 when an allowance for subsistence is so furnished for one meal, $1.50 when an allowance for subsistence is so furnished for two meals, or $1.25 when an allowance for subsistence is so furnished for three meals. E. For the purposes of this section, quarters in kind shall be considered as furnished for the day of arrival at a permanent station. Men absent under orders from their station upon duty which involves travel and also temporary detentions during the journey shall be deemed to be traveling under orders during the entire period of such absence including the day of departure therefrom and return thereto. For periods of detention in excess of thirty-one days at any one place, the allowances prescribed in Part I, A, above shall be applicable. F. Payments of allowances for quarters and subsistence may be made to enlisted men not more than one month in advance, except that as to men proceeding to or from a station beyond the continental limits of the United States or in Alaska, such payments may be made not more than three months in advance. The heads of the departments concerned may prescribe such additional regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this paragraph. PART II Without regard to monetary limitations contained in the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942 as amended, the heads of the departments concerned may authorize the payment to members of their respective services on duty outside continental United States or in Alaska, whether or not in a travel status, of per diem allowances in lieu of actual and necessary expenses, considering all elements of cost of living, including cost of quarters, subsistence, and other necessary incidental expenses. Such per diem allowances shall be uniform for all the services. The heads of the departments concerned may prescribe such additional regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Part, such regulations to be uniform to the fullest extent practicable. PART III Each enlisted man of the first, second, or third grade in active service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard who is not entitled to a money allowance for quarters in a non-travel status under the provisions of sections 10 or 12 of the said Act of June 16 1942, and who has a dependent as defined in section 4 of the said Act, shall be entitled to receive for any period during which public quarters are not provided and available for such dependent, the money allowance for quarters prescribed for enlisted men in a non-travel status by Parts I or II above. Any such enlisted man, although receiving an allowance for quarters in a non-travel status prescribed by Parts I or II above, shall be entitled to an additional money allowance for quarters if by reason of orders of competent authority his dependent is prevented from dwelling with him, such additional money allowance for quarters to be paid at the rate prescribed in Part IA1 above: Provided, that notwithstanding any other provisions herein contained enlisted men on duty ashore, or on ships assigned home ports, outside the continental limits of the United States or in Alaska, who are otherwise entitled to a money allowance for quarters for dependents shall be paid such money allowance at the rate prescribed in Part IA1 above when their dependents have not established a residence in the locality of their respective permanent station or home port as determined under regulations prescribed by the head of the department concerned. This order shall supersede Executive Order No. 9386 of October 15, 1943, as amended by Executive Order No. 9561 of June 1, 1945; Executive Order No. 9744-C of June 29 1946; and Executive Order No. 9825 of January 30, 1947, and shall be effective from July 1, 1947 until June 30, 1948 unless sooner modified or revoked. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

July 8, 1947

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9871 (July 8, 1947), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9871-regulatons-governing-the-granting-allowances-for-quarters-and.