List of United States federal executive orders

This page is a list of Executive orders which have been issued by the Office of the President of the United States of America (POTUS) to give specific presidential policy and implementation directions to officers and agencies of this country's Executive branch. Federal government offices and agencies are required to follow the directions of such Executive orders, within the limits of existing federal laws passed by the United States Congress and defined by the Constitution of the United States, as interpreted by the Judicial branch of the federal government. At the federal level of government in the United States, laws are made almost exclusively by legislation. Such legislation originates as an act of Congress passed by the U . Congress; such acts were either signed into law by the president or passed by Congress after a presidential veto. Legislation is not the only source of law. There is also judge-made common law and constitutional law. The president can also issue executive orders pursuant to a grant of discretion from Congress, or under the inherent powers that office holds to deal with certain matters which have the force of law. Many early executive orders were not recorded. The State Department began numbering executive orders in the early 20th century, starting retroactively from President Abraham Lincoln's Executive Order Establishing a Provisional Court in Louisiana issued in 1862.