Executive Order

* Some of the information in this article may be outdated.

An executive order is an action which does not require the approval of the Congress, by the President. It cannot contradict or override any law, but can direct agencies in the executive branch in accordance with law. For example, only the President can issue an Executive Order for a budget sequester, by law. Conservatives are often critical of executive orders for how they bypass the United States Constitutional process for enacting new laws.

The proposed executive order on abortion to which Bart Stupak agreed on March 21, 2010, and which is riddled with loopholes, is available here. A criticism is available here.

Barack Obama issued 276 executive orders in total.[1] During his two term Presidency, Ronald Reagan issued 381 executive orders.[2] One must look at the content of executive orders rather than the number issued to determine whether overreach had been committed by a president.

An advisor to President Bill Clinton, Paul Begala, once joked: "Stroke of the pen. Law of the Land. Kinda cool."

## Contents

* 1 Presidents and executive orders
* 1.1 Line graphs
* 1.2 Table
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Presidents and executive orders[edit]

### Line graphs[edit]

Executive orders in line graph form demonstrating the issuance count of all former presidents.

Executive orders in line graph form from the Founding until Progressivism, demonstrating when the presidency began to be out of control.

### Table[edit]

President  |  Total Orders  |  Order Number Range

|
|

George Washington |  8  |
John Adams |  1  |
Thomas Jefferson |  4  |
James Madison |  1  |
James Monroe |  1  |
John Quincy Adams |  3  |
Andrew Jackson |  12  |
Martin van Buren |  10  |
William Henry Harrison |  0  |
John Tyler |  17  |
James K. Polk |  18  |
Zachary Taylor |  5  |
Millard Fillmore |  12  |
Franklin Pierce |  35  |
James Buchanan |  16  |
Abraham Lincoln |  48  |
Andrew Johnson |  79  |
Ulysses S. Grant |  217  |
Rutherford B. Hayes |  92  |
James Garfield |  6  |
Chester Arthur |  96  |
Grover Cleveland \- I  |  113  |
Benjamin Harrison |  143  |
Grover Cleveland - II  |  140  |
William McKinley |  185  |
Theodore Roosevelt |  1,081  |
William Howard Taft |  724  |
Woodrow Wilson |  1,803  |
Warren G. Harding |  522  |
Calvin Coolidge |  1,203  |
Herbert Hoover |  968  |  5075 - 6070
Franklin D. Roosevelt |  3,721  |  6071 - 9537
Harry Truman |  907  |  9538 - 10431
Dwight D. Eisenhower |  484  |  10432 - 10913
John F. Kennedy |  214  |  10914 - 11127
Lyndon B. Johnson |  325  |  11128 - 11451
Richard Nixon |  346  |  11452 - 11797
Gerald Ford |  169  |  11798 - 11966
Jimmy Carter |  320  |  11967 - 12286
Ronald Reagan |  381  |  12287 - 12667
George H. W. Bush |  166  |  12668 - 12833
Bill Clinton |  364  |  12834 - 13197
George W. Bush |  291  |  13198 - 13488
Barack Obama |  277  |  13489 - 13764
Donald Trump |  |

## See also[edit]

* Executive amnesty
* Balance of power
* Dictator
* Tyranny
* Police states starts with a Welfare state, then a Nanny state

## References[edit]

1. ↑ National Archives
2. ↑ National Archives

## External links[edit]

* Executive Orders: Washington - Obama
* Ranking of presidents by average number of executive orders per year