Polk Administration - Changes in the U.S. Government
Changes in the U.S. Government
The Polk years were not a time of substantial administrative innovation, but several developments are worth noting. Polk demanded that all of his cabinet secretaries personally review their departmental reports and submit them to him before they were passed on to Congress, therein establishing the first comprehensive executive branch budget. It was also during Polk's years in office that postage stamps were first introduced by Postmaster Gen. Cave Johnson. The presidential election of 1844 was also the last time that there was no uniform date for national elections. On January 23, 1845, an act was passed designating the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year as election day. This formula is still in use today. The Department of the Interior was created on the last day of the Thirtieth Congress, March 3, 1849, and transferred a number of offices from other...
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