As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, WTOP presents “250 Years of America,” a multipart series examining the innovations, breakthroughs and pivotal moments that have shaped the nation since 1776.
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Since the country’s founding, the men and women that make up the federal workforce have been the shields protecting the people of our country during wars, health crises and national disasters.
Telling the story of the federal workforce wouldn’t be complete without Joseph Nourse, who for over 40 years served our country.
In that service, he uprooted his life from England and moved multiple times, including during his time as General George Lee’s military secretary during the Revolutionary War.
After the war, he spent a short time on his family’s farm in Virginia, before heading to Philadelphia to once again work on behalf of the people of the United States.
Known as America’s first civil servant, Nourse was elected Register of Treasury by the Confederation Congress in 1781, and reappointed to the position by President George Washington in 1789.
As Register of Treasury, Nourse managed the accounts and financial records of the young republic and worked with the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, to create America’s financial system.
Like the first FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, Nourse served in the government for a staggering 48 years.
Nourse served in the administration of all of the “Founding Fathers,” including Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.
John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, who were the next generation of commander in chiefs, also had Nourse serving them.
Nourse, who was born in England in 1754, moved from Philadelphia to the nation’s new capital on the Potomac River in 1800.
The role that Nourse served during the move to what is now D.C. was incredibly important. He oversaw the survival of the early American records when they were transferred from Philadelphia, which would have taken eight days at the time by horse carriage.
For the first four years, Nourse lived in a house at 3101 P St. in Georgetown, until he purchased a much more stately home on Q Street NW.
Now known as Dumbarton House, Nourse called the eight-acre estate “Jackson’s house on Cedar Hill.”
The Dumbarton House is still on Q Street, although it was moved by 60 or so feet to make way for the Dumbarton Bridge. It is still open to the public and is owned by the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America.
During Nourse’s time in the capital city, he and his wife, Maria, rubbed elbows with the social elite and attended events at the Executive Mansion, which is what the home on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was called before President Teddy Roosevelt made the White House its official name.
Nourse’s next home took 10 years to build and, like Dumbarton House, it is still in use today.
The Highlands, which are now the administrative offices of the Sidwell Friends School, would also later be the home to CIA Director Allen Dulles.
Taking the president to court
Things were going well for Nourse until the election of President Andrew Jackson in 1828.
In 1829, “Old Hickory” forced Nourse from his position of nearly 50 years, alleging that he was a dirty insider who was misappropriating government funds by spending it, moving expenses and buying brandy for the movers.
In today’s terms, Jackson was saying Nourse was part of “the swamp.”
The amount Jackson said Nourse bilked the government for was nearly $12,000, which would be around $400,000 today with inflation.
While Jackson used Nourse as the poster child for the spoils system, the former Register of Treasury denied he did anything wrong and said the government owed him money for unpaid work.
When the issue finally went to court, Nourse won a settlement of $23,582, which is nearly $968,000 today with inflation.
Jackson appealed the decision but the Supreme Court upheld the ruling.
While it had to be a stressful time for Nourse and his family, the victory in court that cleared his name of wrongdoing brought solace to him and his family.
However, Nourse would never see the money — Jackson and the following Democratic administrations refused to approve the payment.
It was not until 1848, seven years after Nourse’s death, that a Whig-controlled Congress gave the money to his family.
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