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Executive Orders Archive

Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 6111 Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.19)

Executive Order 6111—Relating to Foreign Exchange and the Earmarking and Export of Gold Coin or Bullion or Currency

Thursday, April 20, 1933
3 min read (676 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 1933-04-20, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Relating to Foreign Exchange and the Earmarking and Export of Gold Coin or Bullion or Currency." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

Constitutional Assessment: An early statesman would subject this decree to rigorous scrutiny under Article I, Section 8. The Framers deliberately committed commerce, taxation, tariffs, and revenue to Congress alone. To the extent this order imposes duties or financial burdens without explicit statutory pre-authorization, it creates friction with the separation of powers.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended by Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, entitled "An Act to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes," in which amendatory Act Congress declared that a serious emergency exists, I, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do declare that said national emergency still continues to exist and pursuant to said section and by virtue of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue the following executive order: 1.
The provisions relating to foreign exchange transactions contained in the Executive Order of March 10, 1933, shall remain in full force and effect except as amended or supplemented by this order and by regulations issued hereunder.
Applicants who have gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates in their possession, or who in obedience to the Executive Order of April 5, 1933, have delivered gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates shall be entitled to licenses as provided in Section 8 of said Executive Order for amounts not exceeding the equivalent of such coin, bullion or certificates held or delivered.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
Total Words
676
4,158 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
31.6
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
-0.19
Framers' Alignment index
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 6111, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Apr 20, 1933). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6111-relating-foreign-exchange-and-the-earmarking-and-export-gold-coin-or.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)