Treasury, United States Department of the definition of Treasury, United States Department of the in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Treasury, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1789. It is charged with advising the president on fiscal policy and acting as fiscal agent for the federal government. Under the Articles of Confederation the limited financial administration of the United States was taken care of by a superintendent of finance, who was replaced in 1784 by a treasury board. One of the first necessities, after the new government was set up in 1789 under the Constitution of the United States, was machinery for the collection of taxes, the custody of federal funds, and the keeping of accounts. To this end the Dept. of the Treasury was created and its head, the secretary of the treasury, became the second-ranking cabinet member (after the secretary of state). Alexander Hamilton Hamilton, Alexander, 1755–1804, American statesman, b. Nevis, in the West Indies.

Early Career

He was the illegitimate son of James Hamilton (of a prominent Scottish family) and Rachel Faucett Lavien (daughter of a doctor-planter on Nevis and
..... Click the link for more information. was the first secretary. The office of U.S. Treasurer was also created in 1789 to receive and pay out money for the federal government.

Divisions that were added over the years include the U.S. Mint (1792), the U.S. Secret Service (1865, transferred to the Dept. of Homeland Security in 2003), the Internal Revenue Service (1862), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (1863), the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (1877), the U.S. Customs Service (1927, functions transferred to bureaus in the Dept. of Homeland Security in 2003), the Bureau of the Public Debt (1940), the U.S. Savings Bonds Division (1945, transferred to the Bureau of the Public Debt in 1994), the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (1970, transferred to the Dept. of Homeland Security in 2003), the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (1972 as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; law enforcement functions transferred to the Dept. of Justice in 2003 as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives), the Financial Management Service (formerly the Bureau of Government Financial Operations, 1974), the Office of Thrift Supervision (1989), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (1990), and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (1994).

Until 1829 the department supervised the U.S. Postal Service and until 1849 the General Land Office; before 1903 the department was also charged with many duties pertaining to commerce. The law enforcement functions formerly carried out by the department were transferred to other departments in 2003.

See also Bank of the United States Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from 1791 to 1811 and the second from 1816 to 1836.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve System, central banking system of the United States. Established in 1913, it began to operate in Nov., 1914. Its setup, although somewhat altered since its establishment, particularly by the Banking Act of 1935, has remained substantially the same.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Independent Treasury System Independent Treasury System, in U.S. history, system for the retaining of government funds in the Treasury and its subtreasuries independently of the national banking and financial systems. In one form or another, it existed from the 1840s to 1921.
..... Click the link for more information. ; subtreasury subtreasury. After President Andrew Jackson vetoed (July 10, 1832) the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States , the deposits were removed and placed in state banks that came to be called Jackson's "pets.
..... Click the link for more information. .