Today is the 225th birthday of the United States Coast Guard! Below is a little bit of information about how and why the U.S. Coast Guard was formed.
The Coast Guard traces its history back to the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton proposed building sea-going revenue cutters to collect revenue for the new republic and serve as "useful sentinels of the law." President George Washington signed the bill passed by the first Congress August 4, 1790 that authorized construction of ten cutters to enforce tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling. This event, 225 years ago, was the "birth" of the U.S. Coast Guard. Today, the USCG oversees the management and protection of America's coasts, ports and inland waters, serving the people of the U.S. just as Hamilton and Washington envisioned more than two centuries ago.
