CHAPTER I

ORIGIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR

The preamble to the Constitution lays down broadly two great aims of government-―(1) the defense of the life, liberty, and property of the citizen, and (2) the promotion of his general welfare.

In the year following the adoption of the Constitution, three of the executive branches of Government, with Secretaries, were established: First, the Department of Foreign Affairs, by act approved July 27, 1789 (name changed to Department of State by act approved September 15, of the same year); second, the War Department, created by the act of August 7, 1789 (then embracing naval affairs); and third, the Treasury Department, established by act of September 2, 1789. From its beginning the Treasury Department has been the principal agency of government through which a limited supervision of the commercial and industrial life of the nation has been administered, and the designation sought to be given its chief officer in the constitutional convenvention was that of "Secretary of Commerce and Finance." a

The record of events, from the close of the Revolution to the constitutional convention at Philadelphia in 1787, shows that the desire to foster the commerce and trade of the States was the paramount and controlling argument which made the Union possible.

The constitutional convention of the thirteen States was the direct outcome of the Annapolis convention of five States, and this convention, in turn, was born of the Mount Vernon convention of delegates from the States of Virginia and Maryland, assembled to adjust and promote commerce and trade between these two States. The commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met at Alexandria, in the former State, in the spring of 1785, but General Washington extended to them the hospitality of his home, which they accepted, and the delegates-all prominent men of their day, and friends of Washington-conducted their deliberations at Mount Vernon, aided, no doubt, by the counsel of their host, whose interest in and knowledge of the subject under discussion had long been manifest, and who, two years later, presided at the constitutional convention at Philadelphia. The sole subject of this meeting at the home of Washington was the commerce and trade between the two States; but in reality, these men

a Documentary History of the Constitution.

were enacting the prologue to what was to be in fact an indissoluble Union.

The Mount Vernon convention recommended that representatives be appointed annually to confer on the commercial and trade relations of the States. In considering this report, Maryland passed a resolution inviting Pennsylvania and Delaware to join in these annual conventions; while in the Virginia assembly Madison penned a resolution appointing commissioners to meet such as should be delegated by the other States "to take into consideration the trade of the United States," and "to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and permanent harmony." a

The immediate result of the conference on trade and commerce held at Mount Vernon was that in the following year, 1786, commissioners from five of the thirteen States assembled by appointment at Annapolis, "to take into consideration the trade and commerce of the United States." In this convention, Hamilton drew up an address, which Madison and Randolph signed with him, recommending a general meeting of the States in a future convention, and an extension of the powers of their delegates to other objects than those of commerce, as in the course of their reflections on the subject, they had been "induced to think that the power to regulate Trade is of such comprehensive extent and will enter so far into the General System of the Foederal Government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a correspondent adjustment of other Parts of the Foederal System."

In the constitutional convention, August 20, 1787, Mr. Gouverneur Morris, seconded by Mr. Pinckney, submitted a proposal that there should be a council of state to "assist the President in conducting the public affairs," the third member of this council to be a "Secretary of Commerce and Finance," whose duties were in part to "recommend such things as may in his judgment promote the commercial interests of the United States." This plan also provided for a Secretary of Domestic Affairs to have supervision of agriculture, manufactures, roads, and navigation. The Constitution, as adopted, makes no provision for a cabinet or council of state, but President Washington immediately invited the Secretaries of the three Departments first mentioned, and the Attorney-General, appointed under the act of September 24, 1789, to become members of his official family. The Department of Justice was established by the act approved June 22, 1870. During the period between the close of the Federal convention and the ratification of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, writing on the subject of commerce, says:

"The importance of the Union, in a commercial light, is one of

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b Documentary History of the Constitution.

those points about which there is least room to entertain a difference of opinion, and which has, in fact, commanded the most general assent of men who have any acquaintance with the subject. This applies as well to our intercourse with foreign countries as with each other."a

In 1788, the same year in which the above was written by Hamilton, Commodore John Paul Jones, in a letter to the Marquise de Lafayette concerning the Constitution, stated:

"Had I the power I would create at least seven ministries in the primary organization of government under the Constitution. In addition to the four already agreed upon, I would ordain a Ministry of Marine, a Ministry of Home Affairs, and a General Post Office; and, as commerce must be our great reliance, it would not be amiss to create also as the eighth a Ministry of Commerce." The remarkable foresight of the great commodore enabled him to name the Cabinet as it is to-day, practically in the order in which it grew, agriculture being included by him in the Interior (Home) Department where it actually was for a time.

When the Constitution had been ratified by eleven States, and the Congress, under its authority to "regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States," proceeded solemnly to treat the commerce and manufactures of the two remaining States in the same manner as those of any foreign country, it was from a sense of their commercial interests that they hastened to enroll themselves with their sister Commonwealths, although one of these two States had not even participated in the convention.

Thus, not only were the commercial and industrial interests of the States an important and controlling influence in bringing them into the Federal convention, but a realization of the commercial advantages of the Union induced the States to ratify the Constitution.

We find in the first annual address to the Congress of an American President, General Washington, the following words: "The advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures by all proper means will not, I trust, need recommendation." The first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, gave special consideration to the commerce and industries of the country, and his special reports on these subjects, in which he recommended that a board be established for promoting arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, demonstrate that he considered this function of the Treasury Department one of primary importance.

Hastened by impending war with France, the act of April 30, 1798, was passed, establishing the Navy Department, and its Secretary became the fifth member of the Cabinet. In 1829 the PostmasterGeneral entered the Cabinet for the first time, on the invitation of President Jackson, though this office had been in existence since the

a Federalist.

Original manuscript in archives of Congressional Library.