Establishment Timeline
July 27, 1789
The Department of Foreign Affairs
The Department of Foreign Affairs was the first department created established by an act on July 27, 1789. It was later changed to the Department of State on September 15, 1789 and assigned certain domestic duties such as publication of Acts of Congress and custody of the Great Seal of the United States. Thomas Jefferson was commissioned the first Secretary of State on September 26, 1789.The State Department is responsible for planning and implementing American foreign policy.
The DOS has grown significantly over the years. Thomas Jefferson oversaw a small staff of one clerk, three other clerks, a translator, and a messenger. There were only two diplomatic posts in London and Paris, as well as 10 consular posts.
World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945) brought vastly increased global responsibilities to the United States as it emerged as a preeminent power. New challenges after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, included:
- the newly independent states,
- the global economy,
- terrorism, and
- the security of the American overseas presence.
1789
The Department of Treasury
The powers and functions of the Department has grown over the years but primarily the Dept. of the Treasury is the premier financial institution of the United States that is responsible for accounting, revenue collection, money production, and economic policy formation.Alexander Hamilton served as the first Secretary of the Treasury from 1789 to 1795. Hamilton had served closely with General Washington during the revolution and played an important role in the ratification of the Constitution.
Hamilton insisted on the federal government assuming the huge war debt of $75 million saying, “the debt of the United States… was the price of liberty.”
1789
The Department of War
Established in 1789, it was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the U.S. Army. The Navy Department was not created until 1798 and the Air Force in 1947. The first Secretary of War was Henry Knox who was a retired senior general who had served with General George Washington.The National Security Act of 1947 established the National Military Establishment which was later renamed the Department of Defense. The same day, Executive Order 9877 was signed which assigned primary military functions and responsibilities of the former War Department to the Army and Air Force.
The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation’s security. It is the largest government agency with over 2.91 million service members and civilian employees.
The National Security Act provided that the Secretary of Defense shall be appointed from civilian life by the President. The person may not be appointed within seven years after relief of active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed force. Congress may waive this provision and has done so for George Marshall in 1950, James Mattis, and Lloyd Austin.
But actually, civilian control of the military predates the Constitution itself. The Constitution gives the President the role of “commander in chief” of the armed forces and gives Congress the power to declare war and appropriate military funding.
The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the office of the Attorney General. President George Washington appointed Edmund Jennings Randolph as the first Attorney General. He had previously been Governor of Virginia and later served as Secretary of State. The Act also established the U.S. Attorneys who serve as the nation’s principal litigators and the U.S. Marshals Service making it the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the United States.
In its early days, the Attorney General advised both the President and the Congress but in a part-time capacity. The modern form of the department of Justice was developed in 1870 under President Ulysses S. Grant.
The Justice Department is comprised of several law enforcement agencies including the FBI, ATF, DEA, Bureau of Prisons, and U.S Marshals.
1849
The Department of Interior
Until the Department of Interior was created in 1849 by the 30th Congress, domestic matters were apportioned by Congress among the early departments of State, Treasury, War, and the Attorney General and Postmaster General (all created in 1789).The context to its creation is wide. From Texas annexation in 1845, the resolution of the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain in 1846, and the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848, the United States had enlarged its domain by more than a million square miles in just 3 years.
The Department of the Interior, also called the Home Department, was created under President Taylor who appointed Thomas Ewing as its first secretary. Jokingly referred to as the Department of Everything Else, the department was entrusted with internal development of the nation and the welfare of its people.
Today, its mission is to protect and manage the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage, provide scientific and other information about those resources, and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated Island Communities. It plays a central role in the stewardship of U.S. public lands.
There are eleven technical bureaus which include, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service among others.
1862
The Department of Agriculture
Founded in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress establishing the United States Department of Agriculture.Two and one-half years later, in what would be his final annual message to the Congress; Lincoln called USDA “The People’s Department.” At that time, about half of all Americans lived on farms, compared with about 2 percent today.
Today, the USDA administers programs to help American farmers and ensure food safety for consumers. USDA aid includes distributing price supports and other subsidies to farmers, inspecting food processed at agricultural facilities, working to expand overseas markets for U.S. agricultural products, providing financing to expand job opportunities and improve housing, utilities, and infrastructure in rural America, and providing food assistance and nutrition education.
1903
The Department of Commerce & Labor
On February 14, 1903, Congress passed legislation creating a Department of Commerce and Labor and President Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill that same day.The new Department of Commerce and Labor was one of the largest and most complicated in Government. It included a Bureau of Corporations, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Navigation, Light House Board, Steamboat Inspection Service, Bureau of Statistics, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bureau of Standards, Bureau of Census, Bureau of Fisheries, and the still to be organized Bureau of Manufactures. The Department of Labor became once more a Bureau of Labor and accounted for only one percent of all personnel.
The youngest department had responsibility for some of the oldest programs in government: The maintenance of lighthouses was authorized by Congress in 1789. The first census was conducted in 1790. Thomas Jefferson signed legislation creating a “Survey of the Coast” in 1807.
There were only 4 secretaries of Commerce and Labor before the department was split in 1913 and the bureaus and agencies specializing in labor were transferred to the new Department of Labor.
1953
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was created under President Eisenhower, officially coming into existence on April 11, 1953. Previous Presidents proposed similar departments but it was only enacted as part of Eisenhower’s Reorganization Plan Number 1 of 1953. It brought previously disparate agencies under a single department with a cabinet rank Secretary. Those included the Public Health Service, the Surgeon General, the Commissioner of Education, and the Commissioner of Social Security.
1965
The Department of Housing and Urban Development
After the stock market crash of 1929 and amidst the widespread unemployment and financial collapse Congress passed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932 which authorized loans to private corporations providing housing for low income families under the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC).In 1934 the National Housing Act was passed to relieve unemployment and stimulate the release of private credit in the hands of banks and lending institutions for home repairs and construction. The law also created the Federal Housing Administration, the main federal agency handling mortgage insurance. The FHA’s assumption of risk, through its insurance programs, made possible the amortization of mortgage loans with regular monthly payments and a secondary market for home mortgages, thus freeing up funds for home loans. In 1938, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was chartered by the FHA as a subsidiary of the RFC. These early measures stimulated housing construction, and the United States Housing Act of 1937 authorized loans to local public housing agencies for lower-rent public housing construction expenses.
It was not until 1965 that Congress passed the Housing and Urban Development Act which created HUD as a Cabinet department, as part of the “Great Society” program of President Lyndon B. Johnson, to develop and execute policies on housing and urban areas.
Equality in housing opportunity was legislated by Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing and is an important part of HUD’s mission.
1966
The Department of Transportation
The Department of Transportation (DOT) was established by an act of Congress, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 15, 1966. The department’s first official day of operation was April 1, 1967.It is the primary agency in the federal government with the responsibility for shaping and administering policies and programs to protect and enhance the safety, adequacy, and efficiency of the transportation system and services.
The Department of Transportation consists of the Office of the Secretary and eleven individual Operating Administrations: the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Maritime Administration. The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the Research and Special Programs Administration, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and the Surface Transportation Board.
At the Department’s creation, there was over 21,000 miles of interstate completed. Today there is over 46,000 miles of interstate.
1979
The Department of Education
In 1979, the Department of Education was created from this Department and HEW was renamed the Department of Health and Human Services.It is the only department of the U.S. government to be created through presidential reorganization authority.
- Presidential reorganization authority. The President’s authority to reorganize the executive branch originated in the early 1930s under Herbert Hoover who developed the legislative veto as a mechanism to facilitate his reorganization plan. Legislative vetoes allowed Congress to invalidate an action by the executive branch through a resolution. Under Hoover’s plan, Congress delegated reorganization authority to the executive branch while maintaining authority to disapprove of certain provisions. The Economy Act of 1932 included the first congressional authorization for the president to reorganize the executive branch. Hoover issued his reorganization plan through 11 executive orders in December 1932, one month after he lost his re-election campaign to Franklin D. Roosevelt. In January of 1933, the House vetoed all of Hoover’s reorganization plans.
- Congress periodically allowed presidents to exercise reorganization authority until 1981. In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the legislative veto unconstitutional in Immigration and Naturalization Services v. Chadha. This had the effect of requiring Congress to actively approve any reorganization proposals.
- The most recent presidential reorganization authority expired under President Reagan in 1984.
- Since 1984, presidents have unsuccessfully requested renewal of reorganization authority. President Clinton, President George W. Bush, President Obama, and President Trump all requested reorganization authority but Congress declined to enact legislation.
1979
The Department of Education Organization Act
The Department’s origins goes back to 1867, when President Andrew Johnson signed legislation creating the first Department of Education. Its main purpose was to collect information and statistics about the nation’s schools. However, due to concern that the Department would exercise too much control over local schools, the Department was demoted to an Office of Education in 1868.Over the years, the office remained relatively small, operating under different titles and housed in various agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior and the former U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services).
Beginning in the 1950s, political and social changes resulted in expanded federal funding for education. The successful launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik in 1957 spurred nationwide concern that led to increased aid for science education programs.
The 1960s saw even more expansion of federal education funding: President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” called for the creation of many programs to improve education for poor students at all levels—early childhood through postsecondary. This expansion continued in the 1970s with national efforts to help racial minorities, women, people with disabilities and non-English speaking.
In October 1979, Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act which combined offices from several federal agencies. The Department began operations in May 1980.
1977
The Department of Energy was created
The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 brought together for the first time within one agency two programmatic traditions that had long coexisted within the Federal establishment: 1) defense responsibilities that included the design, construction, and testing of nuclear weapons dating from the Manhattan Project effort to build the atomic bomb; and 2) a loosely knit amalgamation of energy-related programs scattered throughout the Federal government.
1988
The Department of Veterans Affairs
The precursor to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Bureau, was created in the aftermath of WWI to assist veterans returning home from the war.After WWII, Congress enacted a large number of new benefits for veterans of the war. Additionally, the 1940s saw an aging WWI veteran population.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 1988 changed the Veterans Administration, an independent government agency, into a Cabinet level Department. The law was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan but did not come into effect until the term of his successor President George H.W. Bush.
The VA’s primary function is to support veterans in their time after service by providing benefits and support.
The Department has three main administrations: the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration.
The VA is the second largest Cabinet department in terms of employees, second only after the Department of Defense.
2002
The Department of Homeland Security
Ten days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush announced the creation of a new office to “develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks.” On October 8, former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge assumed his role as director.Despite concerns about adding to the federal bureaucracy and dramatically re-organizing the security state, Congress created a cabinet-level department in November of 2002. The Department of Homeland Security merged 22 agencies into one department. Among them, the Secret Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Department officially opened its doors on March 1, 2003 and Tom Ridge became the first Secretary of the Department.
Today, DHS is the 3rd largest cabinet agency with over 240,000 civilian, military, and law enforcement personnel.
