U.S. Coast Guard Birthday, 1790

The first Congress authorized Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, to construct ten vessels, known as “revenue cutters,” to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of federal revenue which provided as much as 90 percent of federal revenue. That fact is why the Coast Guard was originally called Revenue Marine or the Revenue Cutter Service until 1915. In that year, Congress combined it with the U.S. Life Saving Service and rechristened it the Coast Guard.