United States. Department of the Interior

Entity: 2801
Entity Type: United States Government

Abstract

In 1789 Congress created three Executive Departments--State or Foreign Affairs, Treasury, and War. Domestic matters were spread among them. The idea of setting up a separate department to handle domestic matters was put forth on numerous occasions. It wasn't until March 3, 1849, the last day of the 30th Congress, that a bill was passed to create the Department of the Interior to take charge of the Nation's internal affairs. The creation of the Home Department was accomplished in 1849 by consolidating the General Land Office (Department of the Treasury), the Patent Office (Department of State), the Indian Affairs Office (War Department) and the military pension offices (War and Navy Departments). The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with eight bureaus, is the nation's principal conservation agency, charged with the mission "to protect and provide access to our Nation's natural and cultural heritage and honor our trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and our commitments to island communities."

Biography/History Notes

The Interior Department had a wide range of responsibilities entrusted to it: conducting the decennial census, construction of the national capital's water system, colonization of freed slaves in Haiti, exploration of western wilderness, oversight of the District of Columbia jail, regulation of territorial governments, management of hospitals and universities, management of public parks, the basic responsibilities for Indians, public lands, patents, and pensions. In one way or another all of these had to do with the internal development of the nation or the welfare of its people. The newly created Home Department assumed responsibility for the census from the State Department in 1849. The U.S. Congress created the permanent Census Office in 1902 which became the Bureau of the Census a year later in the new Department of Commerce and Labor.

The Secretary of the Interior is appointed by the President of the United States.

The Secretary of the Interior is assisted by a deputy secretary in supervising the department's eight bureaus. Four assistant secretaries oversee Fish and Wildlife and Parks (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service), Indian Affairs (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Land and Minerals Management (Bureau of Land Management, Mineral Management Service, and Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement), and Water and Science (U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation). Interior is a large decentralized agency with over 67,000 employees and 206,000 volunteers located at approximately 2,400 operating locations across the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, and freely associated states.

Hierarchy

United States. Department of the Interior