The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had its origin in the U.S. Patent Office, one of the first federal offices. In 1837, an employee of the Patent Office, Henry L. Ellsworth, began to distribute seeds to American farmers that he had received from overseas. By 1840, Ellsworth had obtained a grant of $1,000 from Congress to establish an Agricultural Division within the Patent Office. This division was charged with collecting statistics on agriculture in the United States and carrying out research, as well as distributing seeds.

Over the next two decades, the Agricultural Division continued to expand within the Patent Office, until Congress created the Department of Agriculture on May 15, 1862. The officer in charge of the department was initially called the Commissioner of Agriculture, but the Department was raised to cabinet level on February 9, 1889, and the Commissioner was renamed the Secretary...