On Aug. 4, 1790, President George Washington signed legislation establishing a maritime force simply called “the cutters” or “the system of cutters.” Thus was born the United States Revenue Cutter Service, known today as the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Revenue Cutter Service, which together with the Life Saving Service, the Bureau of Lighthouses, and the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation now forms the United States Coast Guard, was founded with the mission of enforcing the customs laws of the United States