Executive Order 2456 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 2456—Philippines—Requiring Governor General to Report to Secretary of War

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Saturday, September 16, 1916

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1 min read (247 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 Woodrow Wilson on 1916-09-16, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Philippines—Requiring Governor General to Report to Secretary of War." It is a direct, concise executive instruction delivering focused administrative or military commands to department leadership.

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

▪ Formal executive instruction issued by the President establishing official administrative policy on Philippines—Requiring Governor General to Report to Secretary of War.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Total Words

247

1,476 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 2456, Woodrow Wilson (Sep 16, 1916). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-2456-philippines-requiring-governor-general-report-secretary-war.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

The following provision is contained in Section 21 of an Act of Congress approved August 29, 1916, entitled: "An Act to declare the purpose of the people of the United States as to the future political status of the people of the Philippine Islands, and to provide a more autonomous government for those islands."- . . ."He (the Governor General of the Philippine Islands) shall annually and at such other times as he may be required make such official report of the transactions of the government of the Philippine Islands to an executive department of the United States to be designated by the President, and his said annual report shall be transmitted to the Congress of the United States; And he shall perform such additional duties and functions as may in pursuance of law be delegated or assigned to him by the President." Under this provision hereafter all official reports which the GovernorGeneral of the Philippine Islands may be required to make of the transactions of the Government of the Philippine Islands will be made to the War Department, and all matters pertaining to the Government of the Philippine Islands, except as otherwise provided by law, are placed in the jurisdiction of that department. The business of the War Department pertaining to civil government in the Philippine Islands is, pursuant to Section 87 of the Act of Congress approved July 1, 1902, assigned to the Bureau of Insular Affairs. WOODROW WILSON THE WHITE HOUSE, September 19, 1916.