[6] 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.

[7] In 1875 by accordance of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the law was codified into 5 U.S.C.

[11][12] This United States federal legislation article is a stub.