{"product_id":"barrett-henry-learned-shall-cabinet-officers-have-seats-in-congress-classic-reprint-9781333407919","title":"Shall Cabinet Officers Have Seats in Congress? (Classic Reprint)","description":"Excerpt from Shall Cabinet Officers Have Seats in Congress?\u0026lt;br\/\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\/\u0026gt;The beginnings of the American secre tariat go back to the latter days of the Revo lution. In the year 1781, when there was only a single-chambered Congress and no provision for what would to-day be termed' a. Chief Executive, three administrative head ships Â all of them dependent on Congress Â e were definitely established over Departments of Finance, Foreign Affairs, and War. Three men, Robert Morris, Robert R. Livingston, and Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, were placed in their charge. At the same period there were also a postal organization under a Postmaster General, a Marine Department which, for want of a special Secretary, was consigned to Mor~ ris's care, and a crude judicial establishment, which was really headless, although an atÂ : tempt in the same year (february 16) to place over it an attorney-general had been made. The system, under the circumstances, worked haltingly: only two departments, Foreign Af fairs and War, and tthe postal organizationremained under single headships to 1789. But it should not be forgotten that the Con gress summoned Morris, Livingston, and, more frequently as time elapsed, John Jay (livingston's able successor) to appear be fore it for the purpose of obtaining informa tion and even guidance in the serious prob lems which then confronted it.","brand":"Forgotten Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53638543311190,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.momoxbooks.com\/products\/barrett-henry-learned-shall-cabinet-officers-have-seats-in-congress-classic-reprint-9781333407919","provider":"momoxbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}