In her fifth installment of the History of Magic series, Rowling delves into the history of America's version of the Ministry for Magic: the Magical Congress of the United States, abbreviated to MACUSA. She mentions that, after the chaos Salem Witch Trials, American magic folk preferred to stay "underground" and hide their wizarding community from No-Majs. One of the main focuses of MACUSA was law enforcement, which explains why the first President sought to train Aurors first and foremost.
The "Original 12" MACUSA Aurors (trained in the late 1600s) were regarded similarly to the Founding Fathers, notes Rowling. Their descendants became respected and influential, and their importance to the American wizarding community never faded. One of these original few was even a distant relative of Harry Potter's!
Like the No-Maj government, MACUSA's headquarters eventually centered in Washington DC after several unsuccessful attempts to settle in other locales. In a section about challenges faced by the young wizarding government, Rowling discusses the philosophical debate within MACUSA of "Country or Kind?" — essentially, whether American wizards should be allegiant to their nation or their people (other wizards). This was especially contentious during the Revolutionary War, writes Rowling.
. . . Did the magical community owe their highest allegiance to the country in which they had made their homes, or to the global underground wizarding community? Were they morally obliged to join American No-Majs in their fight for liberation from the British Muggles? Or was this, simply put, not their fight?
The arguments for and against intervention were protracted and the fight became vicious. Pro-interventionists argued that they might be able to save lives; anti-interventionists that wizards risked their own security by revealing themselves in battle.
The implications of this debate, among other safety issues, eventually resulted in Rappaport's Law, aforementioned in the third History of Magic in North America installment. In order to further enforce the segregation between wizard and No-Maj communities, MACUSA moved its headquarters to New York City. There, the government agency grew, with its largest department focusing on law enforcement.
We're sure to learn even more about MACUSA in the 1920s during Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, when Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander appears to break nearly every law that MACUSA holds dear: No-Maj fraternization, openly using magic, and accidentally unleashing magical beasts in NYC. Somebody should tell him that American law enforcement is allowed to use the death penalty for severe crimes!
To read more about the magical government in America, read Rowling's entire History of Magic in the United States series on Pottermore.
