Justice Department Created 23 June 1870
President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law a bill creating the Justice Department, 23 June 1870. It was the early years of the Republic when a position was established by Congress in the Judiciary Act of 1789. Attorney General of the United States was a part-time job held by a single individual.
The Attorney general gave legal advice to Congress and the president. The practice largely ended by 1819 as the workload of the attorney general and his assistants increased.
It was in 1867, after the Civil War, the House Judiciary Committee studied whether to set up a "law department" within the executive branch, headed by the attorney general and made up of the various department solicitors as well as U.S. attorneys.
Feb. 19, 1868, Rep. William Lawrence, Republican of Ohio, committee chairman, introduced a bill to create a Justice Department along these lines. Lawrence's measure failed, though, because Lawrence devoted much of his time to conducting impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson.
There was another bill introduced by Rep. Thomas Jenckes, republican of Rhode Island, on Feb. 25, 1870, which fared better and won approval in the House and the Senate.
But the legislation did little to alter the attorney general duties. The law spawned a new office, U. S. Solicitor general, who was charged with formulating, supervising government's stance in litigation before the supreme court.
It was in 1884, after control of federal prison system was transferred from the Interior department to the Justice department, several new penitentiaries were built. The passage of the Interstate commerce Act of 1887, the Justice department began to undertake an ever broader law enforcement agenda which Congress continues to expand today.
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