Secretary of The Treasury
President George Washington appointed Hamilton as the first United States Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789. He left office on the last day of January 1795. Much of the structure of the government of the United States was worked out in those five years, beginning with the structure and function of the cabinet itself. Forrest McDonald argues that Hamilton saw his office, like that of the British First Lord of the Treasury, as the equivalent of a Prime Minister; Hamilton would oversee his colleagues under the elective reign of George Washington. Washington did request Hamilton's advice and assistance on matters outside the purview of the Treasury Department.
In the next two years, Hamilton submitted five reports:
- First Report on the Public Credit: Communicated to the House of Representatives, January 14, 1790.
- Operations of the Act Laying Duties on Imports: Communicated to the House of Representatives, April 23, 1790.
- Second Report on Public Credit – Report on a National Bank. Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 14, 1790.
- Report on the Establishment of a Mint: Communicated to the House of Representatives, January 28, 1791.
- Report on Manufactures: Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 5, 1791.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Hamilton
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“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
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