Records Act main subject United States Department of State
The Records Act, also known as an Act to provide for the safe-keeping of the Acts, Records and Seal of the United States, and for other purposes, was the fourteenth law passed by the United States Congress.
The first section of the bill renamed the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Department of State. The next section charged the Secretary of State with receiving legislation from the president for safekeeping. Five subsequent provisions governed the creation, custody and use of the Seal of the United States.
The act also directed the Secretary of State to ensure that every bill enacted or vetoed was published in at least three newspapers, making it the nation's first freedom of information law, though its provisions would later be used to justify the withholding of information from the public.In 1875, the law was incorporated into 5 U.S.C. section 301, the Housekeeping Statute.
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