Secretary of State: State vs. Federal

The discussion about Dr. Rice’s nomination reminded me of a question I’ve wondered about for a long time:

Why does the Secretary of State of the US have such a different role from the Secretary of State of a state, yet they have the same title?

The Secretary of State of the U.S. is in charge of foreign policy.

The Secretary of State of California is in charge of elections, and seems to have no other role, as far as I can tell.

How did these two completely different jobs end up with the same title?

Ed

Actually, the US Secretary of State has, in the course of history, had more administrative type functions than we currently think of. While now we think of the SecState as purely a foreign minister, the US Secretary of State was at one time responsible for being the certifying official for constitutional amendments that had been ratified by the states, and, IIRC, had some kind of official duties over the Great Seal of the United States. (I’ll have to try to find a cite for that last thing, though.) Those types of duties help one understand that the US Secretary of States and the states’ Secretaries of State once had more similar functions than they do today.

States’ Secretaries of State (heheh) are also usually responsible for things like corporate registrations, state archives, and official state misscellany.

Still has:

4 U.S.C. § 42.

Until the 20th century, the US Secretary of State was the United States’ principal recordkeeper, with custody over almost all the Federal government’s official documents and records. Those functions have largely been transferred to the Administrator of General Services.

And when Jefferson first threw up his shingle as Secretary of State, he personally approved all patent applications.

You had to send your invention to him and he would take a look.

I believe this method was eventually thought to be unfeasible.

Another function: the Secretay of State (more properly, his office) receives the resignation of the President or Vice President:

And of course the Secretary of State was originally responsible for issuing judicial commissions, which is why the bedrock case of American constitutional law is Marbury v. Madison:

In Michigan, the Secretary of State offices are what is called the Department of Motor Vehicles in most other states.