patronage, rather than merit, this led the department to largely favor those with political networks and wealth, rather than skill and knowledge. In 1833, Secretary of State Louis McLane oversaw a major restructure of the Department of State into a formal collection of seven bureaus: the Diplomatic Bureau; the Consular Bureau; the Home Bureau; the Bureau of Archives, Laws, and Commissions; the Bureau of Pardons and Remissions, Copyrights, and the Care of the Library; the Disbursing and Superintending Bureau; and the Translating and Miscellaneous Bureau. His successor John Forsyth reduced this number to just four the following year, overseen by a chief clerk: the Diplomatic Bureau; the Consular Bureau; the Home Bureau; and the Keeper of the Archives, Translator, and Disbursing Agent. The office of Commissioner of Patents was created in 1836. In 1842, the Department of State was required to report to Congress on foreign commercial systems, and a clerk within the department was assigned the responsibility of arranging this information. This position was established as the Superintendent of Statistics in 1854 and the Statistical Office was created within the department. In 1853, the office of Assistant Secretary of State was created to oversee the heads of each bureau. A Commissioner of Immigration existed between 1864 and 1868. An Examiner of Claims was established in 1868 to address claims by American citizens against foreign nations, but it was abolished in 1868 and then reestablished in 1870 under the newly established Law Bureau. In 1870, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish reorganized the department into twelve bureaus: the Chief Clerk's Bureau, two Diplomatic Bureaus, two Consular Bureaus, the Law Bureau, the Bureau of Accounts, the Statistical Bureau, the Bureau of Translations, the Bureau of Pardons and Commissions, the Bureau of Domestic Records, and the Passport Bureau. The bureaus of law, translations, and domestic records each consisted of a single person responsible for that duty. A mail division was established in 1872 and the office of Keeper of Rolls was made independent of the Chief Clerk's Bureau in 1873. Congress legally recognized the bureau system and provided official salaries for some bureau positions in 1873. Following Congressional recognition, several acts of Congress modified the structure of the bureaus between 1874 and 1882. At the end of the nineteenth century, the department consisted of the Chief Clerk's Bureau, the Diplomatic Bureau, the Consular Bureau, the Bureau of Accounts, the Bureau of Foreign Commerce,