Hey, why doesn't the US have a Foreign Ministry like everywhere else? What's the deal with calling our foreign affairs thing 'State'?
You see, in the beginning...
When the United States was recently founded, we did indeed have a Department of Foreign Affairs, led by John Jay. However, this was soon abolished and the new country had only four cabinet departments: Army, Treasury, Attorney General, and State.
Foreign Affairs was a very low priority for the US throughout most of its history. On the eve of World Ear II we had less than 1,500 professional diplomats representing us overseas. Ambassadors were called 'ministers' and went around deliberately underdressed to represent their republican humility.
Because of this lack of interest in international diplomacy, foreign affairs wasn't considered important enough to merit its own cabinet post. Originally, State was responsible for the Mint, the Census, and everything else that couldn't fit into another department.
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