Secretary of the Treasury

“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…”

~Act of Congress Establishing the Treasury Department, Chapter XII, Section 1

In the beginning

The office of Secretary of the Treasury has always carried with it much weight. In 1779, Congress tried for the first time to place various demanding economic duties on a specific individual, a Secretary of the Treasury. However, finding one person in the United States at the time who was economically savvy enough to handle all the issues was all but impossible. So Congress invited Richard Price, a well-respected British philosopher of economics, to journey across the Atlantic to assume the position of Secretary of the Treasury and direct American finances, but he declined. Thereafter, the position was temporarily abolished. It wasn’t until 10 years later, in 1789, that James Madison rose from his seat in Congress and made the motion to establish a more organized, coherent, and capable Treasury Department. The product of Madison’s proposal was born when George Washington signed into law the bill that created the Department of the Treasury that we know today. It was decided that a Secretary of the Treasury would be deemed head of the department thereby being responsible for preparing estimates of yearly revenues and expenditures, preparing plans for the management of the revenue and the support of the public credit, supervising the collection of revenue, overseeing the selling and acquiring of public lands, deciding on forms of keeping and stating accounts, and responding to Congress on all matters dealing with finances.

The first Secretary of the Treasury

George Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton, his former aide-de-camp and a brilliant 34 year-old New York lawyer, to be the first Secretary of the Treasury. A mere ten days later, Hamilton presented a comprehensive report of the proper course of the nation’s finances to the House of Representatives.

As the first Secretary of the Treasury of the U.S., Alexander Hamilton was essential in shaping the way a Secretary of the Treasury mobilizes and manages financial issues within the federal government. He was the first to demand a sound currency with stable banking in order to promote national economic growth. Once inside the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, he was an avid advocate of a strong centralized government in which existed power over the financial particularism of local interests. Hamilton established a philosophical precedence in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury that has since been emulated, but unmatched. He was a sharp political theorist who believed that man’s capacity for logic, reason, and justice makes possible the existence of free government, while his tendencies towards passion, dishonesty, and injustice make it necessary. Indeed, Hamilton was notorious for clinging vehemently to a federalist view, even commenting once, “The people! – The people is a great beast!” Nevertheless, he remains one of the most fundamental statesmen in American history and has left an indelible mark on the federal government’s financial capabilities and especially on the office of the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Secretary of the Treasury today

Today, the duties and responsibilities of the Secretary of the Treasury are much more complex. He is responsible for formulating and advising domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policy. Furthermore, the Secretary of the Treasury participates in the formulation of broad fiscal policies, manages the public debt, oversees the responsibilities of the department in performing its law enforcement duties, serves as the key financial agent for the U.S. government, and monitors the manufacturing of coins and currency. In addition to domestic issues, the Secretary of the Treasury represents the United States in international financial entities such as the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Developmental Bank, the African Developmental Bank, the European Developmental Bank, and the Inter-American Developmental Bank. Indeed, the responsibilities of the Secretary today are much more global in nature than was the basic agenda of Alexander Hamilton in 1789.

The Secretary of the Treasury must always remember that he is only a heartbeat away from being President of the United States. The order of presidential succession in the United States Constitution mandates that if the President of the United States is not able to continue in the office by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, or inability, then the line of succession is as follows: vice president of the Unites States, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, and then Secretary of the Treasury.

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