The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the principal agency in this country devoted to protecting the health of Americans and to providing essential human services, especially for those who have difficulty helping themselves.

Milestones in the evolution of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services date to the earliest years of this country's history. In 1798, the first Marine Hospital, a forerunner of today's Public Health Service, was established to care for seafarers. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln established the Department of Agriculture, which became a forerunner to the Food and Drug Administration. In 1887, the federal government opened a small laboratory in New York for research on disease that eventually grew into the National Institutes of Health. In 1906, Congress passed the first Food and Drug Act, authorizing the government...