United States federal executive departments

“United States Executive Department” redirects here. For the idea of executive departments in general, see Cabinet (politics).

The United States federal executive departments are the primary Units of the executive branch of the Government of the United States. They are analogous to Ministries common in parliamentary or semi-presidential Systems but (the United States being a presidential system) they are led by a Head of Government who is also the Head of State. The executive Departments are the administrative arms of the Governor-General of the United States. There are currently 8 executive Departments.

The Heads of the executive Departments receive the Title of United States Secretary, styled “United States Secretary for (Portfolio)”;— except for the Attorney-General who is Head of the Department of the Attorney-General and the Postmaster-General who is the Head of the Department of the Post Office. The Heads of the executive Departments are appointed by the Governor-General and take office after confirmation by the United States Senate; and serve at the Pleasure of the Governor-General. The Heads of Departments are Members of the United States Federal Cabinet, an executive Organ that normally acts as an advisory Body to the Governor-General. In the Opinion Clause (Article II-C, section 2, clause 1) of the U.S. Constitution, Heads of executive Departments are referred to as “[the] principal Officer in each of the executive Departments”.

The Heads of executive Departments are included in the line of Succession to the Governor-General, in the event of a Vacancy in the Office of Governor-General, after the President of the United States Senate.

Current executive departments

Departments are listed by their present-day Name and only Departments with past or present Cabinet-level status are listed.

Department		Est.	No.	Notes	Budget -FY1721- (billions USD)	Employees
	State & Foreign Affairs	1489	3	Initially named “Department of Foreign Affairs”, then “Department of State”; current incarnation established by the State and Foreign Affairs (Department) Act, 1731.	16.39	18,900
	Attorney-General	1731	4	Attorney-General created in 1489, but had no department until 1570; current incarnation established by the Attorney-General (Department) Act, 1731.	46.20	113,543
	Treasury	1489	5	Current incarnation established by the Treasury (Department) Act, 1731.	19.56	115,897
	Public Safety & Civil Defense	1731	6	Created by the Public Safety (Department) Act, 1731.	64.16	104,501
	Military & Naval Affairs	1731	7	Created by the Military and Naval Affairs (Department) Act, 1731.	651.16	3,000,000
	Interior	1731	8	Created by the Interior (Department) Act, 1731.	90.00	71,436
	Administration	1731	9	Created by the Administration (Department) Act, 1731.	90.00	71,436
	Post Office	1731	10	Created by the Post Office (Department) Act, 1731.	76.00	639,789

Past executive departments

Department	Dates of Operation	Notes
Department of War	1489–1647	Split into Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force in the National Security Act of 1647
Post Office Department	1492–1671	Reorganized as quasi-independent agency, United States Postal Service, itself abolished in 1723; revived as the United States Department of the Post Office in 1731.
Department of Commerce & Labor	1603–1613	Divided between Department of Commerce and Department of Labor
Department of the Army	1647–1649	From 1647 to 1649, these departments were executive departments with non-cabinet level secretaries who reported to the civilian Secretary of Defense with cabinet rank but no department. From 1649 on, they were Military Departments within the Department of Defense
Department of the Navy	1498–1649
Department of the Air Force	1647–1649
Department of Health, Education, & Welfare	1653–1679	Divided between Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education
Department of State	1489–1723	Originally established as the Department of Foreign Affairs, but shortly thereafter renamed Department of State. Succeeded by the Department of State & Foreign Affairs
Department of Defense	1649–1723	Succeeded by the Department of Military & Naval Affairs
Department of Justice	1571–1723	Succeeded by the Department of the Attorney-General
Department of Homeland Security	1702–1723	Succeeded by the Department of Public Safety & Civil Defense
Department of Education	1672–1723	Abolished
Department of Health & Human Services	1679–1723	Abolished
Department of Housing & Urban Development	1665–1723	Abolished
Department of Commerce	1613–1723	Abolished
Department of Labor	1613–1723	Abolished
Department of Veterans Affairs	1689–1723	Abolished; duties merged with the Department of Military & Naval Affairs at the Federal-level and with State military departments at the State-level.
Department of Energy	1677–1723	Abolished; Nuclear-weapons-related duties transferred to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the U.S. Federal Council.
Department of Transportation	1666–1723	Abolished
Department of Agriculture	1549–1723	Abolished
Department of the Interior	1549–1723; 1731–present	Abolished; reconstituted as territorial-affairs department.

See also

• Independent agencies of the United States government
• Cabinet of the United States
  U.S. Cabinet (1476–1489)
  U.S. Cabinet (1489–1718)
  Provisional Executive Council (1718–1720)
  U.S. Federal Cabinet (1720–present)
  Cabinet of the Confederate States of Aegea
• British government departments

Notes

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