In 1798, President John Adams signed a law based on the federal authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce that created the Marine Hospital Service (MHS). The MHS was comprised of a series of contract hospitals situated in ports on the nation’s rivers, lakes, and oceans that cared for merchant seamen when they fell sick during a voyage. Sailors contributed twenty cents per month from their pay for this service, which was managed by one clerk in the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C.