Executive Actions

Basics of Executive Actions

Executive actions include executive orders and other directives of the executive branch. They are generally used by presidents to issue policy directives and to assign related tasks and duties to executive officers and cabinet members. When [Page 849]the Senate or House of Representatives grant relevant permissions, executive orders actually have the force of law, meaning they are legally binding in the United States. Until the 1950s, there were no limits on how far executive orders could go; then, in 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that an executive order by President Harry S. Truman was invalid because it attempted to make law— which is the province of Congress.

Today, executive actions that deal with laws are only allowed to clarify existing laws, not make new ones, and all executive orders, proclamations, and other actions are announced to the public. Executive orders can be defeated or overturned by the Supreme Court through a case before it based on the order, or through Congress either passing a law that contradicts the executive order or refusing to fund actions required to enforce the order. To date, only two executive orders have been overturned by the other two branches.

Indian Removal Policy in the 1830s

One of the most striking examples of executive action that changed the multicultural landscape of the United States was President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, which amounted to an ethnic cleansing of several tribes.

Jackson signed the order into law in 1830. The act authorized the president to negotiate to buy tribal lands in exchange for lands outside existing U.S. borders to the west. Eventually these “negotiations” with the Cherokee—which were done under significant pressure and threat of violence and with an unrecognized tribal leader—led to the enforcement of the treaty, despite protest by the Cherokee Nation.

The treaty was enforced by Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren, who ordered an armed force of 7,000 soldiers and militia to remove the Cherokee from their homes and land. This forceful removal resulted in the relocation of 15,000 Cherokee to camps along what has been referred to as the Trail of Tears. Thousands of Native Americans died during the march between 1831 and 1838 from exposure, disease, starvation, and otherwise inadequate rations and by violence at the hands of frontiersmen. Those who survived the relocation were subject to unfair dealings, outright theft, and even more violence at their various destinations along the way.

The Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation's language was sweeping: “all persons held as slaves” within any state that had seceded from the Union “are, and henceforth shall be free.”

In the case of this executive action, the president used his authority as commander in chief of the armed forces under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution to legitimize the proclamation. This authority arguably granted him the right and power to declare martial law in the secession states that remained disloyal to the Union.

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