When a person is appointed to a public office, they are not only required to take an oath of service, but quite often they must also post a public official bond to serve as a kind of guarantee that they will remain in compliance with all regulations and government laws during their public service. The public official does not pay this bond, but it is usually paid for by the government unit being served. One of the first public official bond was for the office of the Army paymaster. On May 8, 1792, Congress passed an act establishing the office of Paymaster-general, stating that "said paymaster shall give bond in the sum of $20,000, with two sufficient sureties, for the faithful discharge of his duty; and he shall take an oath faithfully to execute the duties of his office." By law, a paymaster's appointment was limited to four years unless renewed. Upon renewal, the bond also had to be renewed, but not all officers involved in the disbursement of public monies were limited to four-year appointments. In 1837, President Martin Van Buren proposed a change that would require "all officers of the Army or Navy, or in the civil departments, entrusted with the receipt or payment of public money" to renew their public official bonds every four years.
Here is the excerpt from Van Buren's State of the Union Address regarding officers involved entrusted with the disbursement of monies.
"I lay before Congress copies of reports submitted in pursuance of a call made by me upon the heads of Departments for such suggestions as their experience might enable them to make as to what further legislative provisions may be advantageously adopted to secure the faithful application of public moneys to the objects for which they are appropriated, to prevent their misapplication or embezzlement by those intrusted with the expenditure of them, and generally to increase the security of the Government against losses in their disbursement. It is needless to dilate on the importance of providing such new safeguards as are within the power of legislation to promote these ends, and I have little to add to the recommendations submitted in the accompanying papers.
By law the terms of service of our most important collecting and disbursing officers in the civil departments are limited to four years, and when reappointed their bonds are required to be renewed. The safety of the public is much increased by this feature of the law, and there can be no doubt that its application to all officers intrusted with the collection or disbursement of the public money, whatever may be the tenure of their offices, would be equally beneficial. I therefore recommend, in addition to such of the suggestions presented by the heads of Departments as you may think useful, a general provision that all officers of the Army or Navy, or in the civil departments, intrusted with the receipt or payment of public money, and whose term of service is either unlimited or for a longer time than four years, be required to give new bonds, with good and sufficient sureties, at the expiration of every such period."
I could not find any Congressional Acts passed that implemented the President's request.
Shown In the picture above is Brevet Major General Nathan Towson. General Towson was Paymaster General from 1822 until 1854.
References
“First Annual Message.” First Annual Message | The American Presidency Project, 5 Dec. 1837, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/first-annual-message-4
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