The Department of Everything Else: Highlights of Interior History

Utley, Robert; Mackintosh, Barry

As Interior took shape under its early leaders and in response to congressional mandates, it came more and more to deserve the appellation of "Great Miscellany" often given it. Serious observers and satirists alike regularly decried an absence of unifying purpose in the seemingly disparate collection of offices assembled under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. Yet if Interior lacked the clear definition other departments enjoyed, it nevertheless played a role in national affairs larger than the sum of its parts. In one way or another, all the responsibilities entrusted to it had to do with the internal development of the nation or the welfare of its people. On this common ground the large, permanent bureaus united with the smaller, transitory offices. The former gave the department strength and continuity, while the latter dramatized its versatility as a force in American government. For by offering a repository for functions that did not fit neatly elsewhere, Interior enabled Congress more easily to accept and discharge responsibilities for the internal needs of a rapidly growing nation. A sampling of tasks assigned the Interior Department suggests the scope of its cares in the last half of the 19th century. These ranged from the conduct of the decennial census to the colonization of freed slaves in Haiti, from the exploration of western wilderness to oversight of the District of Columbia jail, from the regulation of territorial governments to construction of the national capital's water system, from management of hospitals and universities to maintenance of public parks. Such functions, together with basic responsibilities for Indians, public lands, patents, and pensions, gave Interior officials an extraordinary array of concerns.

The Department of Everything Else: Highlights of Interior History

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