Department of the Interior Established

Legislation excerpt

By: United States Congress

Date: March 3, 1849

Source: Act of March 3, 1849, c. 108, 9 Stat. 395, creating the Department of the Interior. Excerpt in: The Department of Everything Else: Highlights of Interior History. "Appendix." by Robert M. Utley and Barry Mackintosh. Available online at: 〈http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/utley-mackintosh/interiora.htm〉 (accessed March 17, 2006).

About the Author: Robert James Walker (1804–1869), a Senator from Mississippi elected in 1835, was responsible for drafting the 1849 bill that eventually established the U.S. Department of the Interior.

INTRODUCTION

The idea to establish a department for domestic affairs, or the Home Department as it was often called, was first discussed during the formative years of the United States. The First Congress, which first met in 1789, considered such a department but finally agreed to merge together domestic and foreign affairs, thus forming the Department of State. The idea for a Home Department—what today is called the Interior Department—stayed a popular topic of discussion over the next fifty years, but never actually materialized during this period.

Between 1845 and 1848, the United States enlarged its physical proportions by more than 1 million square miles (2.6 million square kilometers), expanding its northern border to Canada and its southern border to Mexico. During this time, there was much heated debate at the federal government level as to the management of these new territories, along with the management of the states already a part of the Union. One particularly outspoken politician was Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker, who favored a separate department responsible for domestic lands. He did not feel the responsibilities of the General Land Office—which under the Treasury was authorized to manage the public domain (or the public lands)—should really be a part of his department.

After performing a comprehensive review of the duties of the agencies under his control and other agencies throughout the federal government, Walker officially announced that the General Land Office, along with the Indian Affairs Office (in the War Department), The Patent Office (in the State Department), and the pension offices (in the War and Navy departments), had little in common with their (respective) departments. He suggested that they be moved into a new department, and went about drafting a bill to accomplish his objective. After the bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives on February 15, 1849, it was sent to the U.S. Senate. On the last day of the Thirtieth U.S. Congress, on March 3, 1849, the legislation was approved by the Senate, thus creating a cabinet agency known as the Department of the Interior (DOI).

PRIMARY SOURCE

An Act to establish the Home Department …

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the passage of this act, there shall be created a new executive department of the government of the United States, to be called the Department of the Interior; the head of which department shall be called the Secretary of the Interior, who shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall hold his office by the same tenure, and receive the same salary, as the Secretaries of the other executive departments, and who shall perform all the duties assigned to him by this act.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior shall exercise and perform all the acts of supervision and appeal in regard to the office of Commissioner of Patents, now exercised by the Secretary of State; and the said Secretary of the Interior shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the treasury on estimates or accounts, subject to the same adjustment or control now exercised on similar estimates or accounts by the First or Fifth Auditor and First Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior shall perform all the duties in relation to the General Land Office, of supervision and appeal, now discharged by the Secretary of the Treasury; and the said Secretary of the Interior shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out the treasury, on estimates or accounts, approved or certified by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, subject to the same control now exercised by the First Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the supervisory power now exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury over the accounts of the marshals, clerks, and other officers of all the courts of the United States, shall be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior, who shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the treasury, on estimates or accounts, subject to the same control now exercised on like estimates or accounts by the First Auditor and First Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior shall exercise the supervisory and appellate powers now exercised by the Secretary of the War Department, in relation to all the acts of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the treasury, on estimates or accounts, subject to the same adjustment or control now exercised on similar estimates or accounts by the Second Auditor and Second Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior shall exercise the supervisory and appellate powers now exercised by the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, in relation to all the acts of the Commissioner of Pensions; and shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the treasury, on estimates or accounts, subject to the same adjustment or control now exercised on similar estimates or accounts by the Third or Fourth Auditors and Second Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior shall exercise all the supervisory and appellate powers now exercised by the Secretary of State, in relation to all acts of marshals and others in taking and returning the census of the United States; and shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the treasury, on estimates or accounts, subject to the same adjustment or control now exercised over similar estimates and accounts by the Fifth Auditor and First Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the supervisory and appellate powers now exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury over the lead and other mines of the United States, and over the accounts of the agents thereof, shall be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior; who shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the treasury, on estimates or accounts, subject to the same adjustment or control now exercised on similar estimates or accounts by the Second Auditor and Second Comptroller of the Treasury….

SIGNIFICANCE

When it was established, the Interior Department possessed a very wide range of responsibilities. Its two major divisions of duties were the country's internal development and the well-being of its people. It was further divided by such specific responsibilities as: the construction of the water system for the District of Columbia; supervision of the federal jail at the nation's capital; settlement of freed Haitian slaves; exploration of western territories; management of territorial governments; oversight of universities and hospitals; supervision of public parks; and general obligations toward Native Americans, patents, pensions, and public lands. Since the new Department was involved in just about everything else not under the jurisdiction of the other federal departments, the DOI became known in political cartoons and in discussions around Washington D.C. as "The Department of Everything Else."

The Department of Interior was largely created as a result of the acquisition of many western lands. It is, therefore, not surprising that the DOI, through the General Land Office, played a significant role in expanding the western frontiers of the country. In fact, the DOI helped to arrange for over 1.8 million homesteaders to obtain 160-acre (64.75-hectare) plots of free land (through the Homestead Act) and to secure over 94 million acres (38 million hectares) for the use of the railroads (through the Railroad Act). Money collected from such programs financed, among other things, various environmental and conservation activities for state universities and agricultural colleges.

Under the auspices of the DOI, Major John Wesley Powell helped to change the way that the government dealt with the country's natural resources. Powell conducted the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain region in 1874, a significant exploration of some of the new western U.S. territories. At this time, the general opinion of most people was that the country's natural resources were boundless and, thus, did not need to be conserved because they would never run out. However, Powell disagreed with such opinions. Since Powell believed that the country's natural resources were not limitless, he strenuously fought to manage these resources based on proven science and technology and regulated under the authority of governments.

Powell aggressively argued for using sensible and methodical procedures in the management of the country's natural resources for the benefit of all U.S. citizens. The studies of the western states, such as the ones performed by Powell, provided much of the scientific research that, ultimately, resulted in the rational use of western lands and resources. Largely due to the DOI-funded studies of Powell and others, the popularity of the conservation movement came about in the 1900s. These scientific studies were also critical in deciding how the federal government would eventually irrigate arid regions of the west in order to create productive agricultural lands.

Today, the Interior Department manages for the federal government about 507 million acres (205 million hectares) of public land, which is about 20 percent of all the land of the United States; 700 million acres (283 million hectares) of underwater minerals; and the immersed lands of the Outer Continental Shelf. The DOI also protects most of the country's cultural and natural resources such as national parks, historic places, and recreational areas, and serves as the largest supplier and manager of water in seventeen western states. The U.S. Department of Interior—often called the custodian of natural resources—is considered the major conservation agency for the federal government.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Web sites

Utley, Robert M., and Barry Mackintosh. "The Department of Everything Else: Highlights of Interior History." The National Park Service: Links to the Past, 1989. 〈http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/utley-mackintosh/index.htm〉 (accessed March 17, 2006).

"U.S. Department of the Interior Library." United States Department of the Interior. 〈http://library.doi.gov〉 (accessed March 17, 2006).

"History of the U.S. Department of the Interior." U.S. Department of the Interior University. 〈http://www.doiu.nbc.gov/orientation/history1.html〉 (accessed March 17, 2006).