Executive Order 8511 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 8511—Transferring Jurisdiction and Control Over Certain Land on the Island of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, From the Department of the Interior to the War Department

•

Friday, August 9, 1940

•

2 min read (345 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 1940-08-09, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Transferring Jurisdiction and Control Over Certain Land on the Island of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, From the Department of the Interior to the War Department." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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

▪ 195, 200-202, and as President of the United States, it is ordered that the jurisdiction and control over the following lands on the Island of St.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Total Words

345

1,869 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

6.4

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8511, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Aug 9, 1940). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8511-transferring-jurisdiction-and-control-over-certain-land-the-island-st.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of June 16, 1933, c. 90, 48 Stat. 195, 200-202, and as President of the United States, it is ordered that the jurisdiction and control over the following lands on the Island of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, constituting a part of that tract commonly known as "Bethlehem Estates" and indicated by hachures on the attached plat of the "Site of Proposed Auxiliary Airdrome," prepared by the War Department and bearing the date June, 1940, be, and the same are hereby, transferred from the Department of the Interior to the War Department for national-defense purposes: Beginning at a point designated as Station 2 on the attached plat, being a point on the east boundary of the property of Miles Merwin, from which the NE corner of said Merwin property bears N. 12° W., 3325.3 feet, and the SE corner of said estate bears S. 10° E., 1372.0 feet, thence by magnetic bearings, N. 88°45' E., 553.2 feet to Station 3; N. 8°14' W., 2442.1 feet to Station 6; N. 16°21' W., 341.0 feet to Station 7; N. 32°56' W., 234.0 feet to Station 8; N. 45°53' W., 865.8 feet to Station 9; N. 80°45' W., 1252.8 feet to Station 10; S. 48°51' W., 460.6 feet to Station 11; N. 67°57' W., 517.9 feet to Station 12; N. 81°26' W., 432.0 feet to Station 13; S. 85°21' W., 690.8 feet to Station 14; N. 57°09' W., 994.1 feet to Station 15; N. 58°00' W., 460.6 feet to Station 16; S. 85°11' W., 513.5 feet to Station 17; S. 10°44' E., 607. 5 feet to Station 18; S. 88°01' W., 1577.8 feet to Station 21; S. 11°15' E., 1701.9 feet to Station 22; N. 76°46' E., 6117.1 feet along north boundary of property of Miles Merwin to Station M1; S. 12°0' E., 3325.3 feet along east boundary of property of Miles Merwin to Station 2, the point of beginning. Containing 213.72 acres, more or less. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, August 9, 1940.