United States federal executive departments Facts for Kids

The United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States–the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.

Departments

Department	Creation	Order of succession	Modifications since creation	2007 Budget in billions of dollars	Employees (2007)
State	1789	1	Initially named "Department of Foreign Affairs"	9.96	30,266
Treasury	1789	2		11.10	115,897
Defense	1947	3	Initially named "National Military Establishment"	439.30	3,000,000
Justice	1870	4	Position of Attorney General created in 1789, but had no department until 1870	23.40	112,557
Interior	1849	5		10.70	71,436
Agriculture	1889	6		77.60	109,832
Commerce	1903	7	Originally named Commerce and Labor; Labor later separated	6.20	36,000
Labor	1913	8		59.70	17,347
Health and Human Services	1953	9	Originally named Health, Education, and Welfare; Education later separated	543.20	67,000
Housing and Urban Development	1965	10		46.20	10,600
Transportation	1966	11		58.00	58,622
Energy	1977	12		21.50	116,100
Education	1979	13		62.80	4,487
Veterans Affairs	1989	14		73.20	235,000
Homeland Security	2002	15		44.6	208,000
Total budget (fiscal year 2007):				1,523.42	4,193,144

Department	Dates of Operation	Notes
War	1789–1947	Subsumed by Department of Defense, renamed Department of the Army
Post Office	1792–1971	Reorganized as quasi-independent agency, United States Postal Service
Navy	1798–1947	Subsumed by Department of Defense; it has been proposed that the Secretary of Homeland Security assume the position in the order of succession once held by the Secretary of the Navy
Commerce and Labor	1903–1913	Divided between Department of Commerce and Department of Labor
Health, Education, and Welfare	1953–1979	Divided between Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education