This is a list of secretaries of state of the United States.
Secretaries of foreign affairs (1781–1789)
On January 10, 1780, the
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation ...
created the Department of Foreign Affairs.
On August 10, 1781, Congress selected
Robert R. Livingston, a delegate from
New York, as the first secretary for foreign affairs. Livingston was unable to take office until October 20, 1781. He served until June 4, 1783, and was succeeded by
John Jay
John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
on December 21, 1784, who served until March 4, 1789, when the government under the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...
gave way to the government under the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
.
The office of secretary of foreign affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs were reinstated by a law signed by
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
on July 27, 1789.
John Jay
John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
retained the post on an interim basis, pending the return of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
from France.
Secretaries of state
On September 15, 1789, before Jefferson could return to take the post, Washington signed into law another act which changed the name of the office from Secretary of Foreign Affairs to
Secretary of State, changed the name of the department to the
Department of State, and added several domestic powers and responsibilities to both the office of secretary and the department.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
took office as the first secretary of state on March 22, 1790.
18th and 19th centuries
List of
secretaries of state from September 15, 1789 to September 29, 1898
20th and 21st centuries
List of
secretaries of state from September 30, 1898 to the present.
List of secretaries of state by time in office
This is a list of United States secretaries of state by time in office. This is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater.
Cordell Hull is the only person to have served as secretary of state for more than eight years.
Daniel Webster and
James G. Blaine are the only secretaries of state to have ever served non-consecutive terms.
Warren Christopher served very briefly as acting secretary of state non-consecutively with his later tenure as full-fledged secretary of state.
Elihu B. Washburne served as secretary of state for less than two weeks before becoming
ambassador to France.
Notes
References
Further reading
* Bemis, Samuel Flagg, ed. ''The American secretaries of state and their diplomacy'' (19 vol., 1963) scholarly biographies
partly online* Graebner, Norman A., ed. ''An Uncertain Tradition: American Secretaries of State in the Twentieth Century'' (1961) scholarly essays on John Hay through John Foster Dulles
online* Hopkins, Michael F. "President Harry Truman's Secretaries of State: Stettinius, Byrnes, Marshall and Acheson." ''Journal of Transatlantic Studies'' 6.3 (2008): 290–304.
* Mihalkanin Edward, ed. ''American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell'' (2004); short scholarly articles by experts; 572p
online
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Secretaries Of State Of The United States
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
State, Secretary of
United States secretaries of state by time in office
, L
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