A Few Historical Facts About the U.S. Coast Guard
While serving as Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton advocated the creation of a naval service to enforce the collection of tariffs, at the time the major source of income for the federal government.
Passed by Congress and signed into law by President George Washington, this force came into being as the Revenue-Marine, a name which lasted until it was changed by Congress on July 31, 1894 to the Revenue Cutter Service.
The Revenue Cutter Service became the United States Coast Guard on January 28, 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Coast Guard Act.