United States. Department of the Treasury

The Department of the Treasury was created by an act of Congress (1 Stat. 65), approved September 2, 1789. The orginal act established the Department to superintend the manage the National finances. This act charged the Secretary of the Treasury with the preparation of plans for the improvement and management of the revenue and the support of public credit. It further provided that the Secretary should prescribe the forms for keeping and rendering all manner of public accounts and for the making of returns. He was empowered to grant, subject to limitations of amending acts, all warrant of moneys to be issued from the Treasury pursuant to legal appropriations, and to furnish information, upon request, to either or both branches of Congress on any matter referred to him or pertaining to his office. With the expansion of the country and its financial structure, frequent revisions and amendments to the act so broadened the scope of the Department that it eventually embraced a score or more of diversified bureaus, divisions, and offices. Besides managing the financial affairs of the Nation, the Department controlled the coinage and printing of money. For a time the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Secret Service were under its jurisdiction.

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