On August 4, 1790, the first U.S. Congress authorized the construction of 10 vessels to patrol U.S. ports from Massachusetts to Georgia. The United States Coast Guard takes form in this small fleet of “cutters”—fast-moving, speedy sailboats—tasked with intercepting marine smugglers and collecting tariffs on imported goods. It's the brainchild of Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. secretary of the treasury under President George Washington.
Originally called the “Revenue Marine” and then the “Revenue Cutter Service,” the Coast Guard was one of Hamilton’s many bold ideas for funding the U.S. federal government, which was mired in debt after the costly Revolutionary War.
There was no federal income tax at the time, and tariffs on imported goods were the chief source of revenue for the fledgling government. But smugglers evaded tax collection by landing ships at night or by bribing customs officials.
In Federalist Paper No. 12 (1787), Hamilton proposed that “[a] few armed vessels, judiciously stationed at the entrances of our ports, might at a small expense be made useful sentinels of the laws.”
The Coast Guard received its current name in 1915 when the Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
