Trivia: Which of these wasn’t one of the original four presidential Cabinet posts?
Secretary of state
Secretary of agriculture
Attorney general
Secretary of treasury
The correct answer is Secretary of agriculture
So why is this answer correct? : The Constitution gives the President the power to appoint executive department heads, but the Cabinet was not originally a formal part of the structure. However, President George Washintgon found it useful to assemble his department heads for advice, so the original four Cabinet posts were attorney general, secretary of state, secretary of treasury, and secretary of war (changed to secretary of defense in 1947). The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, but it wasn’t until 1889 that the secretary of agriculture was elevated to the President’s Cabinet.