|
Foreign Affairs Bill [HR-8],
June 2, 1789
(Courtesy of the Dartmouth College Library)
DHFFC Transcription, DHFFC v. 4, p.689
|
This bill was
the first of the three acts establishing the executive departments to be considered
in the House. Some support existed for a fourth, the home or domestic department.
Its advocates argued unsuccessfully that the federal government should encourage
geography, science, technology, and internal improvements, and that responsibilities
for those and other functions such as the census, Indian relations, federal records,
copyrights, and patents belonged in a separate department. But the majority rejected
the home department and later decided to change the name of the Department of Foreign
Affairs to the Department of State and expand its authority to include most of these
domestic functions.
|
|
|