181-684: The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ( abbreviated USC&GS ; known as the Survey of the Coast from 1807 to 1836, and as the United States Coast Survey from 1836 until 1878) was the first scientific agency of the United States Government . It existed from 1807 to 1970, and throughout its history was responsible for mapping and charting the coast of the United States , and later
362-610: A San Francisco , California, newspaper into an addendum to that year ' s Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey . Although the Survey had previously published its work indirectly via the Blunts ' American Coast Pilot , it was the first time that the Survey had published its sailing directions directly in any way other than through local newspapers. On June 21, 1860,
543-617: A U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and must live in the state that they represent. In addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voting members, consisting of five delegates and one resident commissioner . There is one delegate each from Washington, D.C. , Guam , the Virgin Islands , American Samoa , the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , and a resident commissioner from Puerto Rico . Unlike
724-557: A solar eclipse from a vantage point off Aulezavik , Labrador , on July 18, 1860, as part of an international effort to study the eclipse. Bibb became the first Coast Survey vessel to operate in subarctic waters. The outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861 caused a dramatic shift in direction for the Coast Survey. All U.S. Army officers were withdrawn from the Survey, as were all but two U.S. Navy officers. Since most men of
905-707: A complex set of relationships between state and federal courts. Federal courts can sometimes hear cases arising under state law pursuant to diversity jurisdiction , state courts can decide certain matters involving federal law, and a handful of federal claims are primarily reserved by federal statute to the state courts. Both court systems have exclusive jurisdiction in some areas and concurrent jurisdiction in others. The U.S. Constitution safeguards judicial independence by providing that federal judges shall hold office "during good behavior"; in practice, this usually means they serve until they die, retire, or resign. A judge who commits an offense while in office may be impeached in
1086-523: A constitutional interpretation by the courts. One of the theoretical pillars of the U.S. Constitution is the idea of " checks and balances " among the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of American government: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. For example, while the legislative branch ( Congress ) has the power to create law, the executive branch under the president can veto any legislation—an act which, in turn, can be overridden by Congress. The president nominates judges to
1267-607: A few cases. The judicial power extends to cases arising under the Constitution, an Act of Congress ; a U.S. treaty ; cases affecting ambassadors , ministers and consuls of foreign countries in the U.S.; cases and controversies to which the federal government is a party; controversies between states (or their citizens) and foreign nations (or their citizens or subjects); and bankruptcy cases (collectively "federal-question jurisdiction"). The Eleventh Amendment removed from federal jurisdiction cases in which citizens of one state were
1448-562: A harbor red and those on the left black; instituted by Lieutenant Commander John R. Goldsborough in 1847, the "red right return" system of markings has been in use in the United States ever since. In the early 1840s, the Survey began work in Delaware Bay to chart the approaches to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Amid renewed calls for the Survey again to be transferred to the Department of
1629-692: A lesser extent, for their navigation. They tried extralegal activities, a reduction in the size of the foreign fleet, and the redocumentation of foreign trading vessels into domestic carriage. Most importantly, they sought new domestic trading partners and took advantage of the political power of Jedidiah Huntington , the Customs Collector. Huntington was an influential member of the Connecticut leadership class (called "the Standing Order") and allowed scores of embargoed vessels to depart for foreign ports under
1810-414: A means of reducing U.S. government expenditures, and Hassler and Bache had fought back periodic attempts to cut its funding. By 1850, the Coast Survey had surveyed enough of the U.S. coastline for a long enough time to learn that – with a few exceptions, such as the rocky coast of New England – coastlines were dynamic and required return visits by Coast Surveyors to keep charts up to date. In 1858, Bache for
1991-598: A paper blockade of Britain but lacked a navy that could enforce it and seized American ships that obeyed British regulations. The Royal Navy needed large numbers of sailors, and was deeply angered at the American merchant fleet for being a haven for British deserters. British impressment of American sailors humiliated the United States, which showed it to be unable to protect its ships and their sailors. The British practice of taking British deserters, many of them now American citizens, from American ships and conscripting them into
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#17328377362132172-610: A plan for the survey work involving the use of triangulation to ensure scientific accuracy of surveys, but international relations prevented the new Survey of the Coast from beginning its work; the Embargo Act of 1807 brought American overseas trade virtually to a halt only a month after Hassler ' s appointment and remained in effect until Jefferson left office in March 1809. It was not until 1811 that Jefferson ' s successor, President James Madison , sent Hassler to Europe to purchase
2353-470: A single elected term." Under the Presentment Clause of Article I, a bill that passes both chambers of Congress shall be presented to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto the bill by returning it to the chamber where it originated. If the president neither signs nor vetoes a bill "within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him" it becomes a law without
2534-595: A survey in the Pacific Ocean off the United States West Coast towing a magnetometer invented by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography . The first such survey in history, it discovered magnetic striping on the seafloor, a key finding in the development of the theory of plate tectonics . Federal government of the United States [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The federal government of
2715-650: A transcontinental triangulation between the United States East and West Coasts, the Hawaiian Islands , Alaska , and "other coasts under the jurisdiction of the United States," which by then included also included the Philippines, Guam , American Samoa , and Puerto Rico. In 1903, the Organization and Law of the Department of Commerce and Labor stated that from the time the Survey began scientific activities in
2896-468: A way of giving them a pension even though the law did not provide for a pension system, paid employees whether they worked or not, and misused per diem money intended for the expenses of personnel in the field by paying per diem funds to employees who were not in the field as a way of augmenting their very low authorized wages and providing them with fair compensation. Chenoweth saw these practices as embezzlement . Chenoweth also suspected embezzlement in
3077-529: A wide range of technical positions. Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel also worked as reconnaissance surveyors for a worldwide aeronautical charting effort, and a Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps officer was the first commanding officer of the Army Air Forces Aeronautical Chart Plant at St. Louis , Missouri . Coast and Geodetic Survey civilians who remained in the United States during the war produced over 100 million maps and charts for
3258-624: Is at its minimum – and to the development of telemetering radio sonobuoys and marine seismic exploration techniques. The Air Commerce Act , which went into effect on May 20, 1926, among other things directed that the airways of the United States be charted for the first time and assigned this mission to the Coast and Geodetic Survey. In 1933, the Coast and Geodetic Survey opened a ship base in Norfolk , Virginia . From 1934 to 1937, it organized surveying parties and field offices to employ over 10,000 people, including many unemployed engineers , during
3439-449: Is composed of three distinct branches: legislative , executive , and judicial , whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress , the president , and the federal courts , respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts subordinate to the U.S. Supreme Court . In
3620-422: Is shared between the federal government and state governments . The interpretation and execution of these principles, including what powers the federal government should have and how those powers can be exercised, have been debated ever since the adoption of the Constitution. Some make a case for expansive federal powers while others argue for a more limited role for the central government in relation to individuals,
3801-593: The Chesapeake – Leopard affair outraged Americans. Congress imposed the embargo in direct response to these events. President Thomas Jefferson acted with restraint, weighed public support for retaliation, and recognized that the United States was militarily far weaker than either Britain or France. He recommended that Congress respond with commercial warfare, a policy that appealed to Jefferson both for being experimental and for foreseeably harming his domestic political opponents more than his allies, whatever its effect on
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#17328377362133982-572: The Allied forces. Three Coast and Geodetic Survey officers and eleven members of the agency who had joined other services were killed during the war. Following World War II, the Coast and Geodetic Survey resumed its peacetime scientific and surveying efforts. In 1945 it adapted the British Royal Air Force ' s Gee radio navigation system to hydrographic surveying, ushering in a new era of marine electronic navigation. In 1948 it established
4163-458: The Chesapeake and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia , where the lone Briton was hanged while the three Americans were initially sentenced to 500 lashes. (American diplomatic pressure led to the return of the three Americans, without the dispensing of punishment.) The outraged nation demanded action, and President Jefferson ordered all British ships out of American waters. Passed on December 22, 1807,
4344-515: The Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps was created as a new uniformed service of the United States to carry out both wartime and peacetime surveying and related operations. In 1970, the Coast and Geodetic Survey was abolished when it merged with other government agencies to create the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), but its elements were reorganized and incorporated into NOAA as
4525-624: The Gedney Channel at the entrance to New York Harbor , which significantly reduced sailing times to and from New York City. Gedney was in command of the Revenue-Marine revenue cutter USRC Washington on August 26, 1839, when she discovered and seized the Spanish schooner La Amistad off Culloden Point on Long Island , New York . A slave ship , La Amistad had been taken over by African people on board who were being transported to
4706-576: The Non-Intercourse Act . The law enabled the President, once the wars of Europe had ended, to declare the country sufficiently safe and to allow foreign trade with certain nations. In 1810, the government was ready to try yet another tactic of economic coercion, the desperate measure known as Macon's Bill Number 2 . The bill became law on May 1, 1810, and replaced the Non-Intercourse Act. It
4887-799: The North Sea (where they supported the laying of the North Sea Mine Barrage ), as troop transport navigators, as intelligence officers, and as officers on the staff of U.S. Army General John "Black Jack" Pershing , commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front . During the period between the world wars, the Coast and Geodetic Survey returned to its peaceful scientific and surveying pursuits, including land surveying, sea floor charting, coastline mapping, geophysics , and oceanography . In 1923 and 1924, it began
5068-696: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu Hawaii . The onset of the Cold War in the late 1940s led the Survey also to make a significant effort in support of defense requirements, such as conducting surveys for the Distant Early Warning Line and for rocket ranges, performing oceanographic work for the U.S. Navy, and monitoring nuclear tests. In 1955, the Coast and Geodetic Survey ship USC&GS Pioneer (OSS 31) conducted
5249-504: The Senate . The U.S. House of Representatives is made up of 435 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district in a state from where they were elected. Apportionment of seats among the 50 states is determined by state populations, and it is updated after each decennial U.S. Census. Each member serves a two-year term. In order to be elected as a representative, an individual must be at least 25 years of age, must have been
5430-514: The Supreme Court , combat piracies and felonies , declare war , raise and support armies , provide and maintain a navy , make rules for the regulation of land and naval forces, provide for, arm and discipline the militia , exercise exclusive legislation in the District of Columbia , regulate interstate commerce , and to make laws necessary to properly execute powers. Over the two centuries since
5611-490: The U.S. Senate , all members of the U.S. House must be elected and cannot be appointed. In the case of a vacancy, the seat must be filled through a special election, as required under Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless of population. There are currently 100 senators (2 from each of the 50 states), who each serve six-year terms. Approximately one-third of
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5792-526: The U.S. Tax Court , are specialized courts handling only certain kinds of cases, known as subject matter jurisdiction . The Bankruptcy Courts are supervised by the district courts, and, as such, are not considered part of the Article III judiciary. As such, their judges do not have lifetime tenure, nor are they Constitutionally exempt from diminution of their remuneration. The Tax Court is an Article I Court, not an Article III Court. The district courts are
5973-493: The United States District Courts , which are the general trial courts for federal law, and for certain controversies between litigants who are not deemed citizens of the same state, known as diversity jurisdiction . There are three levels of federal courts with general jurisdiction, which are courts that handle both criminal and civil suits between individuals. Other courts, such as the bankruptcy courts and
6154-839: The United States Postal Service (USPS), NASA , the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In addition, there are government-owned corporations , including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation . The Judiciary, under Article III of
6335-684: The United States Revenue Cutter Service ) for surveying operations afloat, the U.S. Department of the Navy worked around the law by allowing Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney to purchase the schooner Jersey for the Navy, then deeming Jersey suited only for use by the Survey. Under Gedney ' s command, Jersey began the Survey ' s first depth sounding operations in October 1834, and made its first commercially and militarily significant discovery in 1835 by discovering what became known as
6516-684: The White House staff, the National Security Council , the Office of Management and Budget , the Council of Economic Advisers , the Council on Environmental Quality , the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative , the Office of National Drug Control Policy , and the Office of Science and Technology Policy . Outside of the EOP and the executive departments are a number of independent agencies . These include
6697-510: The copyright for the American Coast Pilot – the Blunt family publication which had appeared in 21 editions since 1796 and had come to consist almost entirely of public information produced by the Survey anyway – in 1867, and the Survey thus took responsibility for publishing it regularly for the first time, spawning a family of such publications for the various coasts of the United States and
6878-502: The federal division of power, the federal government shares sovereignty with each of the 50 states in their respective territories. U.S. law recognizes Indigenous tribes as possessing sovereign powers , while being subject to federal jurisdiction. The full name of the republic is the "United States of America". No other name appears in the Constitution , and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which
7059-569: The head of government (the chief executive). The Constitution directs the president to " take care that the laws be faithfully executed " and requires the president to swear or affirm to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Legal scholars William P. Marshall and Saikrishna B. Prakash write of the Clause: "the President may neither breach federal law nor order their subordinates to do so, for defiance cannot be considered faithful execution. The Constitution also incorporates
7240-560: The " American Method ," it soon was emulated worldwide. Disaster struck the Coast Survey on September 8, 1846, when the survey brig Peter G. Washington encountered a hurricane while she was conducting studies of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina . She was dismasted in the storm with the loss of 11 men who were swept overboard, but she managed to limp into port. The Mexican War of 1846–1848 saw
7421-463: The 1807 law. On July 10, 1832, Congress passed a law renewing the original law of 1807 and somewhat extending its scope, placing the responsibility for coastal surveying back in the Survey of the Coast, returning it to the Department of the Treasury, and permitting the hiring of civilians to carry it out. Hassler was reappointed as the Survey ' s superintendent that year. As authorized by the 1832 law,
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7602-413: The 1850s, the Coast Survey also conducted surveys and measurements in support of efforts to reform the Department of the Treasury ' s Lighthouse Establishment , and it briefly employed the artist James McNeill Whistler as a draughtsman in 1854–1855. Ever since it began operations, the Coast Survey had faced hostility from politicians who believed that it should complete its work and be abolished as
7783-722: The Act did the following: The shipping embargo was a cumulative addition to the Non-importation Act of 1806 (2 Stat. 379), which was a "Prohibition of the Importation of certain Goods and Merchandise from the Kingdom of Great Britain," the prohibited imported goods being defined where their chief value, which consists of leather, silk, hemp or flax, tin or brass, wool, glass, and paper goods, nails, hats, clothing, and beer. The Embargo Act of 1807
7964-832: The Cabinet who are appointed by the president. These are the White House Chief of Staff, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, United States Trade Representative, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Administrator of the Small Business Administration. The heads of the 15 departments are chosen by
8145-717: The Coast Survey, developed the Sigsbee sounding machine while conducting the first true bathymetric surveys in the Gulf of Mexico . With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, the U.S. Navy again withdrew its officers from Coast and Geodetic Survey duty. As a result of the war, which ended in August 1898, the United States took control of the Philippine Islands and Puerto Rico , and surveying their waters became part of
8326-616: The Coast and Geodetic Survey also operated in support of military and naval requirements. About half of the Survey ' s civilian work force, slightly over 1,000 people, joined the armed services. Officers and civilians of the Survey saw service in North Africa , Europe , and the Pacific and in the defense of North America and its waters, serving as artillery surveyors, hydrographers , amphibious engineers, beachmasters (i.e., directors of disembarkation), instructors at service schools, and in
8507-443: The Coast and Geodetic Survey and its successor organizations ever since. On February 5, 1889, by a joint resolution of Congress, the U.S. government accepted an invitation by the government of the German Empire to become a party to the International Geodetic Association . By law, the U.S. delegate to the association was a Coast and Geodetic Survey officer appointed by the President. By a resolution of April 12, 1892, Congress granted
8688-451: The Coast and Geodetic Survey continuing its entire program of scientific research, and recommended that the Coast and Geodetic Survey remain under civilian control rather than be subordinated to the U.S. Navy. It was a victory for Thorn and Colonna. Another victory followed in 1887, when Thorn headed off a congressional attempt to subordinate the Survey to the Navy despite the Allison Commission's findings, providing Cleveland with information on
8869-456: The Coast and Geodetic Survey introduced the wire-drag technique into hydrography, in which a wire attached to two ships or boats and set at a certain depth by a system of weights and buoys was dragged between two points. This method revolutionized hydrographic surveying, as it allowed a quicker, less laborious, and far more complete survey of an area than did the use of lead lines and sounding poles that had preceded it, and it remained in use until
9050-434: The Coast and Geodetic Survey raised by the Allison Commission and the Chenoweth investigation, Cleveland made the Chief Clerk of the Internal Revenue Bureau , Frank Manly Thorn , Acting Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey on July 23, 1885, and appointed him as the permanent superintendent on September 1. Thorn, a lawyer and journalist who was the first non-scientist to serve as superintendent, quickly concluded that
9231-446: The Coast and Geodetic Survey was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the newly created United States Department of Commerce and Labor . By the time of its transfer, the Survey had established suboffices at San Francisco , California , and at Manila in the Philippines and had expanded the scope of its operations to include Lake Champlain , the Pacific coast of North America from San Diego , California, to Panama ,
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#17328377362139412-404: The Coast and Geodetic Survey's duties. The Survey opened a field office in Seattle , Washington in 1899, to support survey ships operating in the Pacific Ocean as well as survey field expeditions in the western United States ; this office eventually would become the modern National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Marine Center. The system of U.S. Navy officers and men crewing
9593-412: The Coast and Geodetic Survey, at least some scientists were not prone to following bureaucratic requirements related to the funding of their projects, and their lax financial practices led to charges of mismanagement of funds and corruption. When Grover Cleveland became president in 1885, James Q. Chenoweth became First Auditor of the Department of the Treasury, and he began to investigate improprieties at
9774-472: The Coast and Geodetic Survey, traces its ancestry to the Coast and Geodetic Survey's Office of Weights and Measures. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey began its existence as the United States Survey of the Coast , created within the United States Department of the Treasury by an Act of Congress on February 10, 1807, to conduct a "Survey of the Coast." The Survey of the Coast, the United States government ' s first scientific agency, represented
9955-423: The Coast from the Department of the Treasury, prohibited the U.S. government from employing civilians to conduct coastal surveys, and gave the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy responsibility for such surveys under the auspices of the United States Department of War and United States Department of the Navy , respectively. Although the 1818 law did not abolish the Survey of the Coast, it had the effect of removing Hassler from
10136-402: The Confederates while working in support of Union forces. Army officers never returned to the Coast Survey, but after the war Navy officers did, and the Coast Survey resumed its peacetime duties. The acquisition of the Department of Alaska in 1867 expanded its responsibilities, as did the progressive exploration, settlement, and enclosure of the continental United States . George W. Blunt sold
10317-569: The Constitution, explains and applies the laws. This branch does this by hearing and eventually making decisions on various legal cases. Article III section I of the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court of the United States and authorizes the United States Congress to establish inferior courts as their need shall arise. Section I also establishes a lifetime tenure for all federal judges and states that their compensation may not be diminished during their time in office. Article II section II establishes that all federal judges are to be appointed by
10498-403: The Department of the Treasury to resume the administration of the Survey, which was renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836. However, the Navy retained a close connection with the hydrographic efforts of the Coast Survey under law requiring Survey ships to be commanded and crewed by U.S. Navy officers and men when the Navy could provide such support. Under this system, which persisted until
10679-465: The Department, District , and Territory of Alaska in the coming years. In 1888, the publications for the United States East and Gulf coasts took the name United States Coast Pilot for the first time, and the publications for the United States West Coast took this name 30 years later. NOAA produces the United States Coast Pilots to this day. In 1871, Congress officially expanded the Coast Survey ' s responsibilities to include geodetic surveys in
10860-413: The Embargo Act. The slogans on the teapots were intended to reinforce the principles driving the government's ongoing embargo against Britain and France. A case study of Rhode Island shows the embargo to have devastated shipping-related industries, wrecked existing markets, and caused an increase in opposition to the Democratic–Republican Party . Smuggling was widely endorsed by the public, which viewed
11041-419: The English bars on dispensing or suspending the law, with some supposing that the Clause itself prohibits both." Many presidential actions are undertaken via executive orders , presidential proclamations , and presidential memoranda . The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces . Under the Reception Clause , the president is empowered to "receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers";
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#173283773621311222-465: The European belligerents. The 10th Congress was controlled by his allies and agreed to the Act, which was signed into law on December 22, 1807. In terms of diplomacy, the Embargo failed to improve the American diplomatic position, and sharply increased international political tensions. Both widespread evasion of the embargo and loopholes in the legislation reduced its impact on its targets. British commercial shipping, which already dominated global trade,
11403-518: The Federalists were regaining strength and helped to convince Jefferson and Madison that the embargo should end. Shortly before leaving office in March 1809, Jefferson signed the repeal of the embargo. Despite its unpopular nature, the Embargo Act had one longterm positive impact. Unfulfilled domestic demand for manufactured goods stimulated the growth of the Industrial Revolution in the United States , resulting in an emerging American domestic manufacturing system. On March 1, 1809, Congress passed
11584-449: The Gulf Stream study served as a model for all subsequent integrated oceanographic cruises. Bache also instituted regular and systematic observations of the tides and investigated magnetic forces and directions, making the Survey the center of U.S. government expertise in geophysics for the following century. In the late 1840s, the Survey pioneered the use of the telegraph to provide highly accurate determinations of longitude ; known as
11765-413: The House plus its two senators). The District of Columbia has a number of electoral votes "equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State". A President may also be seated by succession . As originally drafted, there was no limit to the time a President could serve, however
11946-473: The National Ocean Survey, later renamed the National Ocean Service . In addition to the National Ocean Service, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey , Office of Coast Survey , and NOAA fleet all trace their ancestry in whole or in part to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is the descendant of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps. In addition, the modern National Institute of Standards and Technology , although long separated from
12127-410: The Navy could perform hydrography, it could not provide the full range of geodetic disciplines necessary for scientifically accurate surveying and mapping work. In 1886, the Allison Commission wrapped up its investigation and published its final report. Although it determined that all topographic responsibility outside of coastal areas would henceforth reside in the U.S. Geological Survey, it approved of
12308-406: The Navy, Congress enacted legislation on March 3, 1843, providing for President John Tyler to establish a board to study the Survey and recommend a permanent organization for it. Its report recommended an organization which Tyler approved on April 29, 1843, and still was in place when the Survey left the Department of the Treasury in 1903. Professor Alexander Dallas Bache became superintendent of
12489-493: The North, and textile manufacturers began to make massive investments in cotton mills. However, as Britain still able to export to America particularly through Canada , that benefit did not immediately compensate for present loss of trade and economic momentum. A 2005 study by the economic historian Douglas Irwin estimates that the embargo cost about 5% of America's 1807 gross national product . Miniature engraved teapots were manufactured to bolster flagging popular support for
12670-680: The President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments." These appointments delegate "by legal authority a portion of the sovereign powers of the federal government." The Constitution grants the president the "Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States , except in Cases of Impeachment"; this clemency power includes the power to issue absolute or conditional pardons, and to issue commute sentences , to remit fines, and to issue general amnesties . The presidential clemency power extends only to federal crimes, and not to state crimes. The president has informal powers beyond their formal powers. For example,
12851-454: The Royal Navy increased greatly after 1803, and it caused bitter anger in the United States. On June 21, 1807, an American warship, the USS Chesapeake , was boarded on the high seas off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia by a British warship, HMS Leopard . The Chesapeake had been carrying four deserters from the Royal Navy , three of them American and one British. The four deserters, who had been issued American papers, were removed from
13032-439: The Senate stands for election every two years. If a vacancy occurs, the state governor appoints a replacement to complete the term or to hold the office until a special election can take place. The House and Senate each have particular exclusive powers. For example, the Senate must approve (give " advice and consent " to) many important presidential appointments, including cabinet officers, federal judges (including nominees to
13213-520: The Supreme Court), department secretaries (heads of federal executive branch departments), U.S. military and naval officers, and ambassadors to foreign countries. All legislative bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. The approval of both chambers is required to pass all legislation, which then may only become law by being signed by the president (or, if the president vetoes
13394-559: The Survey ' s operations from nine U.S. states to seventeen, and by 1849 it also operated along the United States West Coast , giving it a presence along all coasts of the United States. In 1845, he instituted the world ' s first systematic oceanographic project for studying a specific phenomenon when he directed the Coast Survey to begin systematic studies of the Gulf Stream and its environs, including physical oceanography, geological oceanography, biological oceanography, and chemical oceanography. Bache ' s initial orders for
13575-452: The Survey ' s ships that had prevailed for most of the 19th century came to an end when the appropriation law approved on June 6, 1900, provided for "all necessary employees to man and equip the vessels" instead of Navy personnel. The law went into effect on July 1, 1900; at that point, all Navy personnel assigned to the Survey ' s ships remained aboard until the first call at each ship ' s home port , where they transferred off, with
13756-427: The Survey during its early years. Hassler believed that expertise in coastal surveys would be of importance in future wars and welcomed the participation of Army and Navy personnel, and his vision in this regard laid the foundation for the commissioned corps of officers that would be created in the Survey in 1917 as the ancestor of today ' s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps . During
13937-538: The Survey had Union sympathies, all but seven of them stayed on with the Survey rather than resigning to serve the Confederate States of America , and their work shifted in emphasis to support of the Union Navy and Union Army . Civilian Coast Surveyors were called upon to serve in the field and provide mapping, hydrographic, and engineering expertise for Union forces. One of the individuals who excelled at this work
14118-521: The Survey in its disputes with its critics. Eventually, the relationship between the Survey and the Blunts would lead to the establishment of the Survey ' s United States Coast Pilot publications in the latter part of the 19th century. The Survey had barely resumed its work when President Jackson transferred it from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of the Navy on March 11, 1834. Survey results under Navy Department authority again were unsatisfactory, and on March 26, 1836, Jackson ordered
14299-468: The Survey reimbursing the Navy for their pay accrued after July 1, 1900. Thereafter, the Coast and Geodetic Survey operated as an entirely civilian organization until May 1917. In 1901, the Office of Weights and Measures was split off from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to become the separate National Bureau of Standards. It became the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988. In 1903,
14480-409: The Survey relied on articles it published in local newspapers to provide information to mariners in the next decades, Blunt ' s employment with the Survey began a relationship between the American Coast Pilot and the Survey in which the Survey ' s findings were incorporated into the American Coast Pilot and the Survey ' s charts were sold by the Blunt family, which became staunch allies of
14661-544: The Survey was granted the authority to crew its ships in 1900, nearly half the Survey's ships were crewed and officered by U.S. Navy personnel over the 50-year period between 1848 and 1898; U.S. Navy officers and Coast Survey civilians served alongside one another aboard ship, and many of the most famous names in hydrography for both the Survey and Navy of the period are linked. In addition, the United States Department of War provided U.S. Army officers for service with
14842-405: The Survey's financial and budgetary procedures and improving its operations so as to demonstrate the value of its scientific program in performing accurate mapping while setting and meeting production deadlines for maps and charts. To the Survey's critics, Thorn and Colonna championed the importance of the Coast and Geodetic Survey's inland geodetic work and how it supported, rather than duplicated,
15023-445: The Survey's practice of providing its employees with money in advance for large and expensive purchases when operating in remote areas because of the Survey's inability to verify that the expenses were legitimate. Moreover, the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Julius Hilgard , was exposed as a drunkard and forced to resign in disgrace along with four of his senior staff members at Survey headquarters. To address issues at
15204-483: The Twenty-second Amendment, ratified in 1951, originally limits any president to serving two four-year terms (8 years); the amendment specifically "caps the service of a president at 10 years" by providing that "if a person succeeds to the office of president without election and serves less than two years, he may run for two full terms; otherwise, a person succeeding to office of president can serve no more than
15385-607: The U.S. Coast Survey after Hassler ' s death in 1843. During his years as superintendent, he reorganized the Coast Survey in accordance with the plan President Tyler approved and expanded the Survey's work southward along the United States East Coast into the Florida Keys . In 1846 the Survey began to operate a ship, Phoenix , on the United States Gulf Coast for the first time. By 1847, Bache had expanded
15566-512: The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey or the U.S. Geological Survey; whether the Coast and Geodetic Survey should be removed from the Department of the Treasury and placed under the control of the Department of the Navy, as it had been previously from 1834 to 1836; and whether weather services should reside in a military organization or in the civilian part of the government, raising the broader issue of whether U.S. government scientific agencies of all kinds should be under military or civilian control. At
15747-656: The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, more commonly referred to as the United States Fish Commission . He had little impact on the Geological Survey or the Fish Commission, but at the Coast and Geodetic Survey he found many improprieties. Chenoweth found that the Coast and Geodetic Survey had failed to account for government equipment it had purchased, continued to pay retired personnel as
15928-483: The U.S. Navy, the Survey operated as a completely civilian organization from 1900 until after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. To avoid the dangerous situation Coast Survey personnel had faced during the American Civil War, when they could have been executed as spies if captured by the enemy, a new Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps was created on May 22, 1917, as one of the uniformed services of
16109-647: The U.S. government, namely the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the United States Geological Survey , the United States Army Signal Corps (responsible for studying and predicting weather at the time), and the United States Navy 's United States Hydrographic Office . The commission looked into three main issues: the role of geodesy in the U.S. government's scientific efforts and whether responsibility for inland geodetics should reside in
16290-483: The United States ( U.S. federal government or U.S. government ) is the common government of the United States , a federal republic located primarily in North America , comprising 50 states , five major self-governing territories , several island possessions , and the federal district (national capital) of Washington, D.C. , where the majority of the federal government is based. The U.S. federal government
16471-571: The United States , giving the Survey ' s officers a commissioned status that protected them from treatment as spies if captured, as well as providing the United States armed forces with a ready source of officers skilled in surveying that could be rapidly assimilated for wartime support of the armed forces. Over half of all Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps officers served in the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps during World War I, and Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel were active as artillery orienteering officers, as minelaying officers in
16652-475: The United States to be sold as slaves , and Gedney's seizure of La Amistad led to the freedom suit United States v. Schooner Amistad , argued before the United States Supreme Court in 1841. In 1838, U.S. Navy Lieutenant George M. Bache , while attached to the Survey, suggested standardizing the markings of buoys and navigational markers ashore by painting those on the right when entering
16833-445: The United States was formed, many disputes have arisen over the limits on the powers of the federal government. These disputes have often been the subject of lawsuits that have ultimately been decided by the United States Supreme Court . Congressional oversight is intended to prevent waste and fraud, protect civil liberties and individual rights, ensure executive compliance with the law, gather information for making laws and educating
17014-598: The administration of President Andrew Jackson expanded and extended the Survey of the Coast ' s scope and organization. The Survey of the Coast resumed field work in April 1833. In July 1833, Edmund E. Blunt, the son of hydrographer Edmund B. Blunt , accepted a position with the Survey. The elder Blunt had begun publication of the American Coast Pilot – the first book of sailing directions , nautical charts , and other information for mariners in North American waters to be published in North America – in 1796. Although
17195-542: The bill hindered US ships from leaving American ports bound for foreign trade, it had the side effect of hindering American exploration. Just weeks later, on January 8, 1808, legislation again passed the 10th Congress, Session 1; Chapter 8: "An Act supplementary..." to the Embargo Act (2 Stat. 453). As the historian Forrest McDonald wrote, "A loophole had been discovered" in the initial enactment, "namely that coasting vessels, and fishing and whaling boats" had been exempt from
17376-453: The bill, both houses of Congress then re-pass the bill, but by a two-thirds majority of each chamber, in which case the bill becomes law without the president's signature). The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the Necessary and Proper Clause , which grants Congress
17557-402: The case from state court to federal court. The United States Courts of Appeals are appellate courts that hear appeals of cases decided by the district courts, and some direct appeals from administrative agencies, and some interlocutory appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court hears appeals from the decisions of the courts of appeals or state supreme courts, and in addition has original jurisdiction over
17738-404: The chambers to consider urgent matters. The vice president is the second-highest official in rank of the federal government. The vice president's duties and powers are established in the legislative branch of the federal government under Article 1, Section 3, Clauses 4 and 5 as the president of the Senate ; this means that they are the designated presiding officer of the Senate. In that capacity,
17919-405: The charges against Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel largely were overblown, and he set his mind to the issues of rebuilding the Survey's integrity and reputation and ensuring that it demonstrated its value to its critics. Ignorant of the Survey's operations and the scientific methods that lay behind them, he left such matters to his assistant, Benjamin J. Colonna , and focused instead on reforming
18100-586: The coasts of U.S. territories . In 1871, it gained the additional responsibility of surveying the interior of the United States and geodesy became a more important part of its work, leading to it being renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878. Long the U.S. government's only scientific agency, the Survey accumulated other scientific and technical responsibilities as well, including astronomy , cartography , metrology , meteorology , geology , geophysics , hydrography , navigation , oceanography , exploration, pilotage , tides , and topography . It also
18281-534: The consent of two-thirds of the Senate. Article II's Appointments Clause provides that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States " while providing that "Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in
18462-487: The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814. The wars caused American relations with both Britain and France to deteriorate rapidly. There was grave risk of war with one or the other. With Britain supreme on the sea and France on the land, the war developed into a struggle of blockade and counterblockade. The commercial war peaked in 1806 and 1807. Britain's Royal Navy shut down most European harbors to American ships unless they first traded through British ports. France declared
18643-450: The design of experiments and on a criterion for the statistical treatment of outliers . Ferdinand Hassler became the first Superintendent of Weights and Measures beginning in November 1830, and the Office of Weights and Measures, the ancestor of today ' s National Institute of Standards and Technology , was placed under the control of the Coast Survey in 1836; until 1901, the Survey thus
18824-463: The development of early current measurement technology, particularly the Pillsbury current meter invented by John E. Pillsbury , USN , while on duty with the Survey. It was in connection with intensive studies of the Gulf Stream that the Coast and Geodetic Survey ship USC&GS George S. Blake became such a pioneer in oceanography that she is one of only two U.S. ships with her name inscribed in
19005-532: The dual effect of severely curtailing American overseas trade, while forcing industrial concerns to invest new capital into domestic manufacturing in the United States. In commercial New England and the Middle Atlantic, ships sat idle. In agricultural areas, particularly the South, farmers and planters could not sell crops internationally. The scarcity of European goods stimulated American manufacturing, particularly in
19186-425: The early 19th century it had produced "a stimulus to all educational and scientific work. The methods used by the Survey have been the standard for similar undertakings in the United States, and many commendations of their excellence have been received from abroad. The influence of the Survey in the various operations resulting from the advancing scientific activity of the country can hardly be overestimated." In 1904,
19367-649: The eastern coast. Most merchants and shippers simply ignored the laws. On the Canada–United States border , especially in Upstate New York and in Vermont, the embargo laws were openly flouted. Federal officials believed parts of Maine, such as Passamaquoddy Bay on the border with the British territory of New Brunswick , were in open rebellion. By March, an increasingly-frustrated Jefferson had become resolved to enforce
19548-567: The economy. In addition, each house may name special, or select, committees to study specific problems. Today, much of the congressional workload is borne by the subcommittees, of which there are around 150. The Constitution grants numerous powers to Congress. Enumerated in Article I, Section 8, these include the powers to levy and collect taxes ; to coin money and regulate its value; provide for punishment for counterfeiting; establish post offices and roads, issue patents, create federal courts inferior to
19729-411: The effort because of his foreign birth – enacted legislation on April 14, 1818, which repealed most of the 1807 statute. Congress believed that United States Army and United States Navy officers could achieve surveying results adequate for safe navigation during their routine navigation and charting activities and could do so more quickly and cheaply than Hassler, so its 1818 law removed the Survey of
19910-634: The embargo as a violation of its rights. Public outcry continued and helped the Federalists regain control of the state government in 1808–1809. The case is a rare example of American national foreign policy altering local patterns of political allegiance. Despite its unpopular nature, the Embargo Act had some limited unintended benefits to the Northeast, especially by driving capital and labor into New England textile and other manufacturing industries, which lessened America's reliance on British trade. In Vermont,
20091-709: The embargo hurt the United States as much as it did Britain and France. Britain, expecting to suffer most from the American regulations, built up a new South American market for its exports, and the British shipowners were pleased that American competition had been removed by the action of the US government. Jefferson placed himself in a strange position with his embargo policy. Though he had frequently argued for as little government intervention as possible, he now found himself assuming extraordinary powers in an attempt to enforce his policy. The presidential election of 1808 had James Madison defeat Charles Cotesworth Pinckney but showed that
20272-404: The embargo to the letter. On March 12, 1808, Congress passed and Jefferson signed into law yet another supplement to the Embargo Act. It prohibited for the first time all exports of any goods, whether by land or by sea. Violators were subject to a fine of $ 10,000, plus forfeiture of goods, per offense. It granted the President broad discretionary authority to enforce, deny, or grant exceptions to
20453-668: The embargo was doomed to failure on the Lake Champlain–Richeleiu River water route because of the state's dependence on a Canadian outlet for produce. At St. John, Lower Canada, £140,000 worth of goods smuggled by water were recorded there in 1808, a 31% increase over 1807. Shipments of ashes to make soap nearly doubled to £54,000, but those of lumber dropped by 23% to £11,200. Manufactured goods, which had expanded to £50,000 since Jay's Treaty in 1795, fell by over 20%, especially articles made near tidewater. Newspapers and manuscripts recorded more lake activity than usual, despite
20634-417: The embargo's exciting game of revenuers versus smugglers, which brought high profits, versus mundane, low-profit normal trade. The New England merchants who evaded the embargo were imaginative, daring, and versatile in their violation of federal law. Gordinier (2001) examines how the merchants of New London, Connecticut, organized and managed the cargoes purchased and sold and the vessels that were used during
20815-432: The embargo, and they had been circumventing it, primarily via Canada . The supplementary act extended the bonding provision (Section 2 of the initial Embargo Act) to those of purely-domestic trades: Meanwhile, Jefferson requested authorization from Congress to raise 30,000 troops from the current standing army of 2,800, but Congress refused. With their harbors for the most part unusable in the winter anyway, New England and
20996-465: The embargo. Port authorities were authorized to seize cargoes without a warrant and to try any shipper or merchant who was thought to have merely contemplated violating the embargo. Despite the added penalties, citizens and shippers openly ignored the embargo. Protests continued to grow and so the Jefferson administration requested and Congress rendered yet another embargo act. The immediate effect of
21177-418: The executive branch when becoming president upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president, which has happened nine times in U.S. history. Lastly, in the case of a Twenty-fifth Amendment succession event, the vice president would become acting president, assuming all of the powers and duties of president, except being designated as president. Accordingly, by circumstances, the Constitution designates
21358-448: The fall of 1810. Though Napoleon did not fulfill his promise, the strained Anglo-American relations prevented him from being brought to task for his duplicity. The attempts of Jefferson and Madison to secure recognition of American neutrality via peaceful means gained a belated success in June 1812, when Britain finally promised to repeal their 1807 Orders in Council . The British concession
21539-611: The façade of the Oceanographic Museum (Musée Océanographique) in Monaco due to her being "the most innovative oceanographic vessel of the Nineteenth Century" with development of deep ocean exploration through introduction of steel cable for sounding, dredging and deep anchoring and data collection for the "first truly modern bathymetric map of a deep sea area." By the mid-1880s, the Coast and Geodetic Survey had been caught up in
21720-507: The federal government; for instance, the Federal Bureau of Investigation , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , and National Park Service . Because the seat of government is in Washington, D.C. , "Washington" is sometimes used as a metonym for the federal government. The United States government is based on the principles of federalism and republicanism , in which power
21901-519: The first time publicly stated that the Coast Survey was not a temporary organization charged with charting the coasts once, but rather a permanent one that would continually survey coastal areas as they changed over time. Another significant moment in the Survey ' s history that occurred in 1858 was the first publication of what would later become the United States Coast Pilot , when Survey employee George Davidson adapted an article from
22082-453: The front lines carrying out mapping duties, and Coast Survey officers produced many of the coastal charts and interior maps used by Union forces throughout the war. Coast Surveyors supporting the Union Army were given assimilated military rank while attached to a specific command, but those supporting the U.S. Navy operated as civilians and ran the risk of being executed as spies if captured by
22263-476: The fundamental standards of length and mass of the United States from the customary English system to the metric system . The metric standards defined under the order remained the U.S. standard until July 1, 1959, by which time increasing precision in measurement required their revision. During the 1890s, while attached to the Coast and Geodetic Survey as commanding officer of George S. Blake , Lieutenant Commander Charles Dwight Sigsbee , USN , Assistant in
22444-460: The greatest loss of life in a single incident in the history of NOAA and its ancestor agencies occurred when a commercial schooner collided with the Coast Survey paddle steamer Robert J. Walker in the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey . Robert J. Walker sank with the loss of 20 men. A Coast Survey ship took part in an international scientific project for the first time when Bibb observed
22625-557: The growing role of geodesy in its operations, the U.S. Coast Survey was renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ( USC&GS ) by a statute passed on June 20, 1878. The American Coast Pilot had long been lacking in current information when the Coast Survey took control of it in 1867, and the Survey had recognized that deficit but had been hindered by a lack of funding and the risks associated with mooring vessels in deep waters or along dangerous coasts in order to collect
22806-424: The guise of "special permission". Old modes of sharing vessel ownership to share the risk proved to be difficult to modify. Instead, established relationships continued through the embargo crisis despite numerous bankruptcies. Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin , was against the entire embargo and foresaw correctly the impossibility of enforcing the policy and the negative public reaction. "As to
22987-521: The height of the Great Depression . When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, all of this work was suspended as the Survey dedicated its activities entirely to support of the war effort. Over half of the Coast and Geodetic Corps commissioned officers were transferred to either the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, or United States Army Air Forces , while those who remained in
23168-400: The hope that it may... induce England to treat us better," wrote Gallatin to Jefferson shortly after the bill had become law, "I think is entirely groundless... government prohibitions do always more mischief than had been calculated; and it is not without much hesitation that a statesman should hazard to regulate the concerns of individuals as if he could do it better than themselves." Since
23349-537: The increased scrutiny of U.S. government agencies by politicians seeking to reform governmental affairs by curbing the spoils system and patronage common among office holders of the time. One outgrowth of this movement was the Allison Commission – a joint commission of the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives – which convened in 1884 to investigate the scientific agencies of
23530-450: The information necessary for updates. The U.S. Congress specifically appropriated funding for such work in the 1875–1876 budget under which the 76-foot (23-meter) schooner Drift was constructed and sent out under U.S. Navy Acting Master and Coast Survey Assistant Robert Platt to the Gulf of Maine to anchor in depths of up to 140 fathoms (840 feet; 256 meters) to measure currents. The Survey's requirement to update sailing directions led to
23711-575: The instruments necessary to conduct the planned survey, as well as standardized weights and measures. Hassler departed on August 29, 1811, but eight months later, while he was in England , the War of 1812 broke out, forcing him to remain in Europe until its conclusion in 1815. Hassler did not return to the United States until August 16, 1815. The Survey finally began surveying operations in 1816, when Hassler started work in
23892-421: The interest of the administration of President Thomas Jefferson in science and the stimulation of international trade by using scientific surveying methods to chart the waters of the United States and make them safe for navigation. A Swiss immigrant with expertise in both surveying and the standardization of weights and measures , Ferdinand R. Hassler , was selected to lead the Survey. Hassler submitted
24073-464: The interior of the country, and one of its first major projects in the interior was to survey the 39th Parallel across the entire country. Between 1874 and 1877, the Coast Survey employed the naturalist and author John Muir as a guide and artist during the survey of the 39th Parallel in the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah . To reflect its acquisition of the mission of surveying the U.S. interior and
24254-399: The late 1980s. The Department of Commerce and Labor was abolished in 1913 and divided into the United States Department of Commerce and the United States Department of Labor . With this change, the Coast and Geodetic Survey came under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce. Although some personnel aboard Coast and Geodetic Survey ships wore uniforms virtually identical to those of
24435-477: The law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. The United States Constitution does not specifically mention the power of judicial review , which is the power to declare a law unconstitutional. There have been instances in the past where such declarations have been ignored by the other two branches. Below the U.S. Supreme Court are the United States Courts of Appeals , and below them in turn are
24616-464: The nation is a party. The terms "Government of the United States of America" or "United States Government" are often used in official documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term "Federal Government" is often used, and the term "U.S. Government" is sometimes used. The terms "Federal" and "National" in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with
24797-524: The nation's highest judiciary authority, the Supreme Court (as well as to lower federal courts), but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in turn, can invalidate unconstitutional laws passed by the Congress. The United States Congress , under Article I of the Constitution, is the legislative branch of the federal government. It is bicameral , comprising the House of Representatives and
24978-513: The need for the Survey to focus on the broad range of geodetic disciplines Colonna identified as necessary for accurate chart- and mapmaking: triangulation , astronomical observations , levelling , tidal observations , physical geodesy , topography , hydrography , and magnetic observations. To those who advocated transfer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey's work to the Navy Hydrographic Office, Thorn and Colonna replied that although
25159-451: The newly acquired coasts of Texas and California . The famous naturalist Louis Agassiz studied marine life off New England from the Coast Survey steamer Bibb in 1847 and also conducted the first scientific study of the Florida reef system in 1851 under a Coast Survey commission; his son, Alexander Agassiz , later also served aboard Coast Survey ships for technical operations. In
25340-455: The nineteenth century, the remit of the Survey was rather loosely drawn and it had no competitors in federally funded scientific research. Various superintendents developed its work in fields as diverse as astronomy , cartography , meteorology , geodesy , geology , geophysics , hydrography , navigation , oceanography , exploration , pilotage , tides , and topography . The Survey published important articles by Charles Sanders Peirce on
25521-495: The northern ports of the mid-Atlantic states had paid little notice to the previous embargo acts. That was to change with the spring thaw and the passing of yet another embargo act. With the coming of the spring, the effect of the previous acts were immediately felt throughout the coastal states, especially in New England. An economic downturn turned into a depression and caused increasing unemployment. Protests occurred up and down
25702-696: The office of vice president. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution sets forth the creation of a presidential Cabinet. The role of the Cabinet is to advise the president and carry out the programs and laws of the federal government. The Cabinet is composed of the vice president and the leaders of 15 executive departments. Those executive departments are the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. Additionally, there are seven other members of
25883-403: The official. Then, a trial is held in the Senate to decide whether the official should be removed from office. As of 2023 , three presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson , Bill Clinton , and Donald Trump (twice). None of the three were removed from office following trial in the Senate. Article I, Section 2, paragraph 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives each chamber the power to "determine
26064-489: The onset of war, the Embargo Act of 1813 was signed into law December 17, 1813. Four new restrictions were included: an embargo prohibiting all American ships and goods from leaving port, a complete ban on certain commodities customarily produced in the British Empire, a ban against foreign ships trading in American ports unless 75% of the crew were citizens of the ship's flag, and a ban on ransoming ships. The Embargo of 1813
26245-480: The plaintiffs and the government of another state was the defendant. It did not disturb federal jurisdiction in cases in which a state government is a plaintiff and a citizen of another state the defendant. The power of the federal courts extends both to civil actions for damages and other redress, and to criminal cases arising under federal law. The interplay of the Supremacy Clause and Article III has resulted in
26426-543: The power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers". Members of the House and Senate are elected by first-past-the-post voting in every state except Louisiana and Georgia , which have runoffs , and Maine and Alaska , which use ranked-choice voting . Congress has the power to remove the president, federal judges, and other federal officers from office. The House of Representatives and Senate have separate roles in this process. The House must first vote to impeach
26607-497: The power to adjourn Congress whenever the House and Senate cannot agree when to adjourn; no president has ever used this power. The president also has the constitutional power to, "on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them"; this power has been used "to consider nominations, war, and emergency legislation." This Section invests the President with the discretion to convene Congress on "extraordinary occasions"; this special session power that has been used to call
26788-540: The power to re-organize or even abolish federal courts lower than the Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court decides cases and controversies , which include matters pertaining to the federal government, disputes between states, and interpretation of the United States Constitution, and, in general, can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional , nullifying
26969-494: The president and approved with the "advice and consent" of the U.S. Senate. Once confirmed, these "Cabinet secretaries" serve at the pleasure of the president. In addition to the executive departments, a number of staff organizations are grouped into the Executive Office of the President (EOP), which was created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The EOP is overseen by the White House Chief of Staff. The EOP includes
27150-476: The president and confirmed by the United States Senate. The Judiciary Act of 1789 subdivided the nation jurisdictionally into judicial districts and created federal courts for each district. The three tiered structure of this act established the basic structure of the national judiciary: the Supreme Court, 13 courts of appeals, 94 district courts, and two courts of special jurisdiction. Congress retains
27331-543: The president has broad authority to conduct foreign relations, is generally considered to have the sole power of diplomatic recognition , and is the United States' chief diplomat, although the Congress also has an important role in legislating on foreign affairs, and can, for example, "institute a trade embargo, declare war upon a foreign government that the President had recognized, or decline to appropriate funds for an embassy in that country." The president may also negotiate and sign treaties, but ratifying treaties requires
27512-466: The president has major agenda-setting powers to influence lawmaking and policymaking, and typically has a major role as the leader of their political party . The president and vice president are normally elected as running mates by the Electoral College ; each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the size of its Congressional delegation ( i.e. , its number of Representatives in
27693-525: The president's signature, "unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return in which Case it shall not be a Law" (called a pocket veto ). A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress; this occurs relatively infrequently. The president may be impeached by a majority in the House and removed from office by a two-thirds majority in the Senate for " treason , bribery , or other high crimes and misdemeanors ". The president may not dissolve Congress , but has
27874-522: The previous lack of success of such an arrangement. When Thorn left the superintendency in 1889, the Coast and Geodetic Survey's position in the U.S. government had become secure. Before Thorn left the superintendency, the United States Congress passed a bill requiring that henceforth the president would select the superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey with the consent of the U.S. Senate. This practice has continued for senior positions in
28055-495: The public, and evaluate executive performance. It applies to cabinet departments, executive agencies, regulatory commissions, and the presidency. Congress's oversight function takes many forms: The executive branch is established in Article Two of the United States Constitution , which vests executive power in the president of the United States . The president is both the head of state (performing ceremonial functions) and
28236-666: The pursuit of general diplomatic and economic leverage. In the first decade of the 19th century, American shipping grew. During the Napoleonic Wars, rival nations Britain and France targeted neutral American shipping as a means of disrupting the trade of the other nation. American merchantmen who were trading with "enemy nations" were seized as contraband of war by European navies. The British Royal Navy had impressed American sailors who had either been British-born or previously served on British ships, even if they now claimed to be American citizens with American papers. Incidents such as
28417-472: The rules of its proceedings". From this provision were created congressional committees , which do the work of drafting legislation and conducting congressional investigations into national matters. The 118th Congress (2023–2025) has 20 standing committees in the House and 19 in the Senate, plus 4 joint permanent committees with members from both houses overseeing the Library of Congress , printing, taxation, and
28598-458: The same way as the president or other officials of the federal government. U.S. judges are appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Another Constitutional provision prohibits Congress from reducing the pay of any present Article III judge. However, Congress is able to set a lower salary for all future judges who take office after such a pay reduction is passed by Congress. Embargo Act of 1807 The Embargo Act of 1807
28779-467: The states, or other recognized entities. Since the American Civil War , the powers of the federal government have generally expanded greatly, although there have been periods since that time of legislative branch dominance (e.g., the decades immediately following the Civil War) or when states' rights proponents have succeeded in limiting federal power through legislative action, executive prerogative or by
28960-522: The superintendency and suspending the Survey's operations. During the 14 years from 1818 to 1832, the Survey existed without a superintendent or civilian workforce and without conducting any surveys. During these years, the Army conducted no surveys, those the Navy carried out achieved unsatisfactory results, and the United States Secretary of the Navy and others repeatedly called on Congress to revive
29141-488: The textile industry, and marked the beginning of the manufacturing system in the United States, reducing the nation's dependence upon imported manufactured goods. Americans opposed to the Act launched bitter protests, particularly in New England commercial centers. Support for the declining Federalist Party , which intensely opposed Jefferson, temporarily rebounded and drove electoral gains in 1808 ( Senate and House ). In
29322-420: The theoretical reduction in shipping that should accompany an embargo. The smuggling was not restricted to water routes, as herds were readily driven across the uncontrollable land border. Southbound commerce gained two thirds overall, but furs dropped a third. Customs officials maintained a stance of vigorous enforcement throughout, and Gallatin's Enforcement Act (1809) was a party issue. Many Vermonters preferred
29503-522: The trial courts wherein cases that are considered under the Judicial Code (Title 28, United States Code) consistent with the jurisdictional precepts of federal question jurisdiction , diversity jurisdiction, and pendent jurisdiction can be filed and decided. The district courts can also hear cases under removal jurisdiction , wherein a case brought in a state court meets the requirements for diversity jurisdiction, and one party litigant chooses to "remove"
29684-414: The use of acoustic sounding systems and developed radio acoustic ranging , which was the first marine navigation system in history that did not rely on a visual means of position determination. These developments led to the Survey ' s 1924 discovery of the sound fixing and ranging (SOFAR) channel or deep sound channel (DSC) – a horizontal layer of water in the ocean at which depth the speed of sound
29865-604: The use of the facilities of the Coast and Geodetic Survey for research and study by scientific investigators and students of any institution of higher education. On April 5, 1893, Survey Superintendent Thomas Corwin Mendenhall , with the approval of United States Secretary of the Treasury John Griffin Carlisle , formally issued the Mendenhall Order , which required the Office of Weights and Measures to change
30046-508: The vice president as routinely in the legislative branch, or succeeding to the executive branch as president, or possibly being in both as acting president pursuant to the Twenty-fifth Amendment . Because of circumstances, the overlapping nature of the duties and powers attributed to the office, the title of the office and other matters, such has generated a spirited scholarly dispute regarding attaching an exclusive branch designation to
30227-510: The vice president has the authority ( ex officio , for they are not an elected member of the Senate) to cast a tie-breaking vote . Pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment , the vice president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College . As first in the U.S. presidential line of succession , the vice president's duties and powers move to
30408-493: The vicinity of New York City . The first baseline was measured and verified in 1817. With surveying work barely underway, Hassler was taken by surprise when the United States Congress – frustrated by the slow and limited progress the Survey had made in its first decade, unwilling to endure the time and expense involved in scientifically precise surveying, unconvinced of the propriety of expending U.S. government funds on scientific endeavors, and uncomfortable with Hassler leading
30589-603: The waning days of Jefferson's presidency , the Non-Intercourse Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for cargos bound for British or French ports. Enacted on March 1, 1809, it exacerbated tensions with Britain and eventually led to the War of 1812 . After a short truce between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during 1802–1803, the European conflicts resumed and continued until
30770-406: The withdrawal of virtually all U.S. Army officers from the Coast Survey and the Coast Survey brig Washington was taken over for U.S. Navy service in the war, but overall the war effort had little impact on the Coast Survey ' s operations. Army officers returned after the war, and the expansion of U.S. territory as a result of the war led to the Coast Survey expanding its operations to include
30951-503: The work of the Geological Survey and was in any event an important component of the Coast and Geodetic Survey's hydrographic work along the coasts. Thorn also advocated civilian control of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, pointing out to Cleveland and others that earlier experiments with placing it under U.S. Navy control had fared poorly. Thorn described the Coast and Geodetic Survey's essential mission as, in its simplest form, to produce "a perfect map,". and to this end he and Colonna championed
31132-400: The years before, during, and after the embargo. Trade routes and cargoes, both foreign and domestic, along with the vessel types, and the ways that their ownership and management were organized show the merchants of southeastern Connecticut evinced versatility in the face of crisis. Gordinier (2001) concludes that the versatile merchants sought alternative strategies for their commerce and, to
31313-449: Was Joseph Smith Harris , who supported Rear Admiral David G. Farragut and his Western Gulf Blockading Squadron in the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip in 1862; this survey work was particularly valuable to Commander David Dixon Porter and his mortar bombardment fleet. Coast Surveyors served in virtually all theaters of the war and were often in the front lines or in advance of
31494-445: Was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the United States Congress . As a successor or replacement law for the 1806 Non-importation Act and passed as the Napoleonic Wars continued, it represented an escalation of attempts to persuade Britain to stop any impressment of American sailors and to respect American sovereignty and neutrality but also attempted to pressure France and other nations in
31675-521: Was an acknowledgment of the failure of economic pressure to coerce the European powers. Trade with both Britain and France was now thrown open, and the US attempted to bargain with the two belligerents. If either power removed its restrictions on American commerce, the US would reapply non-intercourse against the power that had not done so. Napoleon quickly took advantage of that opportunity. He promised that his Berlin and Milan Decrees would be repealed, and Madison reinstated non-intercourse against Britain in
31856-491: Was codified at 2 Stat. 451 and formally titled "An Embargo laid on Ships and Vessels in the Ports and Harbours of the United States". The bill was drafted at the request of President Thomas Jefferson and was passed by the 10th Congress on December 22, 1807, during Session 1; Chapter 5. Congress initially acted to enforce a bill prohibiting only imports, but supplements to the bill eventually banned exports as well. The embargo had
32037-448: Was responsible for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States from 1836 to 1901. In 1959, it was assigned the responsibility for U.S. government oceanographic studies worldwide. By the mid-19th century, the Coast and Geodetic Survey operated a fleet of survey ships that constituted a distinct seagoing service of the United States until 1970. The Survey supported U.S. military operations in wartime, and in 1917
32218-541: Was responsible for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States. When it resumed operations in 1833, the Survey returned to surveys of the New York City area and its maritime approaches. Although U.S. law prohibited the Survey from procuring its own ships, requiring it to use existing public ships such as those of the Navy and the United States Revenue-Marine (which in 1894 became
32399-477: Was successfully adapting to Napoleon's Continental System by pursuing new markets, particularly in the restive Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America. Thus, British merchants were well-positioned to grow at American expense when the embargo sharply reduced American trade activity. The Act's prohibition on imports stimulated the growth of nascent US domestic industries across the board, particularly
32580-401: Was the nation's last great trade restriction. Never again would the US government cut off all trade to achieve a foreign policy objective. The Act particularly hurt the Northeast since the British kept a tighter blockade on the South and thus encouraged American opposition to the administration. To make his point, the Act was not lifted by Madison until after the defeat of Napoleon, and the point
32761-510: Was too late since when the news had reached America, the United States had already declared the War of 1812 against Britain. America's declaration of war in mid-June 1812 was followed shortly by the Enemy Trade Act of 1812 on July 6, which employed similar restrictions as previous legislation. it was likewise ineffective and tightened in December 1813 and debated for further tightening in December 1814. After existing embargoes expired with
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