United States Department of the Treasury

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The history of the Department of the Treasury began during the American Revolution when the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, deliberated the crucial question of how it would finance the American Revolutionary War in which the Thirteen Colonies ultimately sought independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, then led by King George III.

The Congress had no power to levy and collect taxes, nor was there a tangible basis for securing funds from foreign investors or governments. The delegates resolved to issue paper money in the form of bills of credit, promising redemption in coin on faith in the revolutionary cause. On June 22, 1775, only a few days after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental Congress issued $2 million in bills; on July 25, 28 citizens of Philadelphia were employed by Congress to sign and number the currency.

On July 29, 1775, the Second Continental Congress assigned responsibility for the administration of the revolutionary government's finances to joint Continental treasurers George Clymer and Michael Hillegas. Congress stipulated that each of the colonies contribute to the Continental government's funds. To ensure proper and efficient handling of the growing national debt in the face of weak economic and political ties between the colonies, the Congress, on February 17, 1776, designated a committee of five to superintend the treasury, settle accounts, and report periodically to the Congress. On April 1, a Treasury Office of Accounts, consisting of an auditor general and clerks, was established to facilitate the settlement of claims and to keep the public accounts for the government of the United Colonies. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the newborn republic as a sovereign nation was able to secure loans from abroad.{{Cite book |title=Banks and Politics in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War |last=Hammond |first=Bray |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1957 |location=Princeton, NJ }}

Despite the infusion of foreign and domestic loans, the united colonies were unable to establish a well-organized agency for financial administration. Michael Hillegas was first called Treasurer of the United States on May 14, 1777. The Treasury Office was reorganized three times between 1778 and 1781. The $241.5 million in paper Continental bills devalued rapidly. By May 1781, the dollar collapsed at a rate of from 500 to 1000 to 1 against hard currency. Protests against the worthless money swept the colonies, giving rise to the expression "not worth a Continental".

Since the late 18th century, the office has been customarily referred to as the singular "Treasury", without any preceding article, as a remnant of the country's transition from British to American English.{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s3NUAAAAYAAJ |title=Reports of the secretary of the Treasury of the United States: prepared in obedience to the act of May 10, 1800 |date=1851 |publisher=Printed by Blair & Rives |language=en |access-date=April 27, 2020 |archive-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213050157/https://books.google.com/books?id=s3NUAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Dewey |first=Davis Rich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSopAAAAYAAJ&q=history+of+the+united+states+treasury |title=Financial History of the United States |date=1922 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Company |language=en |access-date=November 22, 2020 |archive-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213050157/https://books.google.com/books?id=VSopAAAAYAAJ&q=history+of+the+united+states+treasury#v=snippet&q=history%20of%20the%20united%20states%20treasury&f=false |url-status=live }} For example, the department notes its guiding purpose as "Treasury's mission" instead of "the Treasury's mission."{{Cite web |url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/role-of-the-treasury |title=Role of the Treasury {{!}} U.S. Department of the Treasury |website=home.treasury.gov |access-date=April 27, 2020 |quote=Treasury's mission highlights its role as the steward of U.S. economic and financial systems, and as an influential participant in the world economy. |archive-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429220544/https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/role-of-the-treasury |url-status=live }}

Robert Morris was designated Superintendent of Finance in 1781 and restored stability to the nation's finances. Morris, a wealthy colonial merchant, was nicknamed "the financier" because of his reputation for procuring funds or goods on a moment's notice. His staff included a comptroller, a treasurer, a register, and auditors, who managed the country's finances through 1784, when Morris resigned because of ill health. The treasury board, consisting of three commissioners, continued to oversee the finances of the confederation of former colonies until September 1789.

Image:Seal of the United States Department of the Treasury (1789-1968).png

The First United States Congress convened in New York City on March 4, 1789, marking the beginning of government under the U.S. Constitution. On September 2, 1789, Congress created a permanent institution for the management of government finances:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be a Department of Treasury, in which shall be the following officers, namely: a Secretary of the Treasury, to be deemed head of the department; a Comptroller, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Register, and an Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, which assistant shall be appointed by the said Secretary.{{Cite web |url=http://legisworks.org/sal/1/stats/STATUTE-1-Pg65.pdf |title=Chapter 12, 1 Statue. 65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019033202/http://legisworks.org/sal/1/stats/STATUTE-1-Pg65.pdf |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |url-status=usurped }}

To the surprise of many legislators, he insisted upon federal assumption and dollar-for-dollar repayment of the country's $75 million debt in order to revitalize the public credit: "[T]he debt of the United States was the price of liberty. The faith of America has been repeatedly pledged for it, and with solemnities that give peculiar force to the obligation."{{cite book |editor-last1=Syrett |editor-first1=Harold C. |title=The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 6 |date=1962 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York City |isbn=978-0231089050 |url=http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america7/content/multimedia/ch08/documents_02.htm |access-date=May 6, 2018 |ref=syrett1962vol6 |archive-date=May 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507003521/http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america7/content/multimedia/ch08/documents_02.htm |url-status=live }} Hamilton foresaw the development of industry and trade in the United States, suggesting that government revenues be based upon customs duties. His sound financial policies also inspired investment in the Bank of the United States, which acted as the government's fiscal agent.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

The Department of Treasury believes their seal was created by Francis Hopkinson, the treasurer of loans. He submitted bills to Congress in 1780 that authorized the design of department seals, including a seal for the Board of Treasury. While it is not certain that Hopkinson designed the seal, it closely resembles others he created.{{cite book |first=Albert L. |last=Friedberg |date=2017 |title=Paper money of the US 21st Edition |publisher=Coin & Currency Institute |location=Clifton, New Jersey |pages=6–7 |isbn=9780871840219 }}

In 1861, Sophia Holmes became the first Black woman to be employed by the Treasury Department and by the Federal government of the United States when Senator Henry Wilson, James G. Blaine and others advocated for her hiring as a janitor under Secretary of the Treasury Francis Spinner. She was paid fifteen dollars per month. In 1862, she prevented a major theft from the department of more than $200,000 when she came across a box filled with U.S. currency, including a number of thousand-dollar bills, and reported it to Secretary Spinner.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln subsequently honored her with a commendation for her actions, and the federal government rewarded her with an appointment for life as a messenger with its Department of Issues.Logan, Mrs. John A. Thirty Years in Washington or Life and Scenes in Our National Capital. Hartford, Connecticut: A. D. Worthington & Co., 1901.Bailey, M. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nJTNAAAAMAAJ&dq=Sophia+Holmes+treasury&pg=PA628 The Chautauquan: Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle]. Meadville, Pennsylvania: The T. L. Flood publishing House, 1892.[https://books.google.com/books?id=DkJIAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Sophia+Holmes%22 The United States Treasury Register Containing a List of Persons Employed in the Treasury Department], p. 36. Washington, D.C.:U.S. Government Printing Office, 1874. Another early woman hired by the Department was Jennie Douglas in 1862.Ziparo, Jessica. This Grand Experiment: When Women Entered the Federal Workforce in Civil War–Era Washington, D.C. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Douglas, who was also recruited by Spinner, is sometimes attributed to having been the first woman to have held an appointed position in the Federal government.{{cite news |title=Historic Markers Tell Mohawk Valley Story |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/herkimer-evening-telegram-aug-15-1981-p-4/ |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=Herkimer Evening Telegram |date=August 15, 1981 |page=4 |language=en |via=NewspaperArchive }}

{{Further|Homeland Security Act}}

File:Treasury departement.jpg at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C.]]

The U.S. Congress transferred several agencies that had previously been under the aegis of the Treasury Department to other departments as a consequence of the September 11 attacks. Effective January 24, 2003, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which had been a bureau of the department since 1972, was extensively reorganized under the provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The law enforcement functions of ATF, including the regulation of legitimate traffic in firearms and explosives, were transferred to the Department of Justice as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE).{{cite news |title=Move to Justice Dept. Brings ATF New Focus |newspaper=Washington Post |date=January 23, 2003 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/01/23/move-to-justice-dept-brings-atf-new-focus/76f43384-a848-4dec-9490-29dd2a2ade6c/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311155436/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/01/23/move-to-justice-dept-brings-atf-new-focus/76f43384-a848-4dec-9490-29dd2a2ade6c/ |archive-date=March 11, 2023 }} The regulatory and tax collection functions of ATF related to legitimate traffic in alcohol and tobacco remained with the treasury at its new Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).{{cite web |title=History |website=TTBGov |date=November 18, 2015 |url=https://www.ttb.gov/about-ttb/history |access-date=March 11, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311160913/https://www.ttb.gov/about-ttb/history |archive-date=March 11, 2023 }}

Effective March 1, 2003, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Customs Service, and the U.S. Secret Service were transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security ("DHS").{{cite web |date=July 27, 2012 |title=Who Joined DHS |url=https://www.dhs.gov/who-joined-dhs |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Department of Homeland Security |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311160243/https://www.dhs.gov/who-joined-dhs |archive-date=March 11, 2023 }}

{{Main|2020 United States Treasury and Department of Commerce data breach}}

In 2020, the Treasury suffered a data breach following a cyberattack likely conducted by a nation state adversary, possibly Russia.{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213220635/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/russian-government-spies-are-behind-a-broad-hacking-campaign-that-has-breached-us-agencies-and-a-top-cyber-firm/2020/12/13/d5a53b88-3d7d-11eb-9453-fc36ba051781_story.html |archive-date=December 13, 2020 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/russian-government-spies-are-behind-a-broad-hacking-campaign-that-has-breached-us-agencies-and-a-top-cyber-firm/2020/12/13/d5a53b88-3d7d-11eb-9453-fc36ba051781_story.html |title=Russian government spies are behind a broad hacking campaign that has breached U.S. agencies and a top cyber firm |last=Nakashima |first=Ellen |date=December 13, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 14, 2020 }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-treasury-exclsuive-idUSKBN28N0PG |title=Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails – sources |first=Christopher |last=Bing |work=Reuters |date=December 14, 2020 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214025738/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-treasury-exclsuive-idUSKBN28N0PG |url-status=live }} This was in fact the first detected case of the much wider 2020 United States federal government data breach, which involved at least eight federal departments.{{Cite web |last=Office |first=U. S. Government Accountability |date=March 21, 2024 |title=SolarWinds Cyberattack Demands Significant Federal and Private-Sector Response (infographic) {{!}} U.S. GAO |url=https://www.gao.gov/blog/solarwinds-cyberattack-demands-significant-federal-and-private-sector-response-infographic |access-date=April 10, 2024 |website=www.gao.gov |language=en }}

File:Treasury department official 1907.jpg in 1907]]

File:Organization of US Dept of the Treasury.jpg

File:Treasury Annex.JPG, the Treasury Library, and the main branch of the Treasury Department Federal Credit Union in the Freedman's Bank Building in Washington, D.C.]]

The basic functions of the Department of the Treasury include:US Treasury website [http://www.treasury.gov/about/role-of-treasury/Pages/default.aspx Organization] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011231501/http://www.treasury.gov/about/role-of-treasury/Pages/default.aspx |date=October 11, 2011 }}

• Producing all currency and coinage of the U.S.;
• Collecting taxes, duties and money paid to and due to the U.S.;
• Paying all bills of the U.S.;
• Managing the federal finances;
• Managing government accounts (including the Treasury General Account) and the United States public debt;
• Supervising national banks and thrift institutions;
• Advising on domestic and international financial, monetary, economic, trade and tax policy (fiscal policy being the sum of these);
• Enforcing federal finance and tax laws;
• Investigating and prosecuting tax evaders;
• Publishing statistical reports.

With respect to the estimation of revenues for the executive branch, Treasury serves a purpose parallel to that of the Office of Management and Budget for the estimation of spending for the executive branch, the Joint Committee on Taxation for the estimation of revenues for Congress, and the Congressional Budget Office for the estimation of spending for Congress.

From 1830 until 1901, responsibility for overseeing weights and measures was carried out by the Office of Standard Weights and Measures under the auspices of the Treasury Department.[https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/167.html Records of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019033843/https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/167.html |date=October 19, 2017 }}, National Archives website, (Record Group 167), 1830–1987. After 1901, that responsibility was assigned to the agency that subsequently became known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The Department of the Treasury is organized into two major components: the departmental offices and the operating bureaus. The departmental offices are primarily responsible for the formulation of policy and management of the department as a whole, while the operating bureaus carry out the specific operations assigned to the department.

File:Seal on United States Department of the Treasury on the Building.JPG

• Secretary of the Treasury[http://www.treasury.gov/about/role-of-treasury/orders-directives/Pages/to101-05.aspx Treasury Order 101-05] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319075827/https://www.treasury.gov/about/role-of-treasury/orders-directives/Pages/to101-05.aspx |date=March 19, 2021 }}, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury. January 10, 2011. Updated April 26, 2011. Accessed November 11, 2012.
• Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
• Treasurer of the United States
• Bureau of Engraving and Printing
• Bureau of Engraving and Printing Police
• United States Mint
• United States Mint Police
• Under Secretary for Domestic Finance[http://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/offices/Documents/DF%20Org%20Chart%2011%2015%2011.pdf DF Org Chart] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116024550/https://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/offices/Documents/DF%20Org%20Chart%2011%2015%2011.pdf |date=January 16, 2022 }}, "The Office of Domestic Finance". U.S. Dept. of the Treasury. October 2011. Accessed November 11, 2012.
• Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions
• Office of Financial Institutions
• Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets
• Office of Financial Markets
• Fiscal Assistant Secretary
• Office of Fiscal Service
• Bureau of the Fiscal Service

The Treasury Department has authorized a budget for Fiscal Year 2024 of $16.5 billion. The budget authorization is broken down as follows:[https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/266/FY-2025-Budget-in-Brief-Combined.pdf 2025 Department of Treasury Budget], pg 1, United States Department of the Treasury, Accessed July 28, 2024

In the latest Center for Effective Government analysis of the 15 federal agencies that receive the most Freedom of Information Act FOIA requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the treasury failed to earn a satisfactory overall grade.[http://www.foreffectivegov.org/access-to-information-scorecard-2015/ Making the Grade: Access to Information Scorecard 2015] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811044220/https://www.foreffectivegov.org/access-to-information-scorecard-2015 |date=August 11, 2019 }}, March 2015, 80 pages, Center for Effective Government, retrieved March 21, 2016

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• {{official website}}
• [https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-the-treasury Department of the Treasury] on USAspending.gov
• [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/treasury-department Department of the Treasury] in the Federal Register
• [http://www.up2maps.net/maps/TSoprano/World/major_foreign_holders_of_treasury_securities.html Map of Major Foreign Holders Of Treasury Securities 2009]
• [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/194 Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of Finances] – These annual reports also contain the reports of the many departments of the Treasury, including the Bureau of the Mint, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Bureau of Customs, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Secret Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961226124309/http://www.treas.gov/ |date=December 26, 1996 |title=United States Department of the Treasury }}
• [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/1121 Act to establish the Treasury Department. 1st Congress, 1st Session, Ch. 12, 1 Stat. 65]

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Treasury

Category:1789 establishments in the United States

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