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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1780
A letter, of 27, from the Board of Admiralty was read, enclosing a letter, of 26, from Captain A. Whipple:
Ordered, That the same be referred back to the Board of Admiralty.
A petition from Thomas Jones and others was read:
Ordered, That the same be referred to a committee of three:
The members chosen, Mr. [Abraham] Clark, Mr. [Ezekiel] Cornell and Mr. [Frederick A.] Muhlenberg.
Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the committee on loan office certificates, when a motion was made by Mr. James Henry, seconded by Mr. [William] Few, that the further consideration thereof be postponed.
And on the question for postponing, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. John Henry,
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So it passed in the negative.
The report being amended so as to read as follows:
Whereas Congress, on the eighteenth day of April last, resolved in the words following, viz. "That Congress will, as soon as may be, make such provision for discharging or continuing the loans that have been made to these United States on loan office certificates, as that the holders of them shall sustain no loss thereon by any depreciation of the bills loaned subsequent to the respective dates of the said certificates;" therefore,
Resolved, That the principal of all loans that have been made to these United States, shall finally be discharged, by paying the full current value of the bills when loaned, which payments shall be made in Spanish milled dollars, or the current exchange thereof in other money at the time of payment.
That the value of the bills when loaned, shall be ascertained for the purpose above mentioned, by computing thereon a progressive rate of depreciation, commencing with the first day of June September, 1777, and continuing to the eighteenth day of March, 1780, in geometrical proportion to the time,
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from period to period, as hereafter stated, assuming the depreciation at the several periods to be as follows, viz.
On the first day of September, 1777, as 1.25 of a dollar in said bills for one Spanish milled dollar.
On the first day of March, 1778, one dollar and three quarters of a dollar of the said bills, for one Spanish milled dollar; on the first of September, 1778, as four of the former for one of the latter; on the first of March, 1779, as ten of the former for one of the latter; on the first day of September, 1779, as eighteen of the former for one of the latter; and on the eighteenth day of March, 1780, as forty of the former for one of the latter:
That the principal of all certificates that have been taken out since the eighteenth day of March last, shall be discharged at the rate of one Spanish milled dollar, or the current exchange thereof in other money at the time of payment, for forty dollars of the said bills of credit received on loan.
That the principal of all certificates that shall hereafter be taken out, until the further order of Congress, be discharged at the same rate and in the same manner as those that have been taken out since the eighteenth day of March last.
That the interest on all loan office certificates, at the rate of six per cent. per annum, computed on the principal ascertained as aforesaid, shall be discharged annually, in like manner as the principal, until the principal shall be paid; provided nevertheless, that the same interest and mode of payment on certificates taken out before the first day of March, 1778, shall at the election of the holder be continued as at present, until the principal ascertained as aforesaid shall be ready to be discharged.
Ordered, That the Board of Treasury prepare and report to Congress the proper tables for direction of the commissioners
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of the continental loan offices in the several states in paying off the principal and interest of loans, agreeably to the foregoing resolutions.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Oliver Ellsworth, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 29, folio 190.]
On the question to agree to the whole, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. John Henry,
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So it was resolved in the affirmative.
Congress took into consideration the report of the committee on the memorial of D. Henly, on behalf of Otis and Henly; and thereupon,
June 16th 1780.
The Committee to whom was referred on the 26 ulto The Memorial of David Henley on behalf of Otis & Henley, of Boston, beg leave to report the following remarks--
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1 That the Board of War having been directed by Congress to take measures for procuring clothing for the Army appointed Agents for that purpose in several States among whom the Memorialists were appointed for the State of Massachusetts Bay.
2 That the orders given by the Board of War to the Memorialists, as appears by the correspondence laid before the Committee, were in many cases indefinite, and always pressing, as the wants of the Army ever called for larger supplies than could be procured.
3 That during the summer of last year an estimate was required by the Board of War from the said Memorialists, ascertaining the sum of money necessary to satisfy the most material orders of Purchase which had been given, which estimate was accordingly sent amounting to about a million three hundred and thirty thousand dollars: this sum, on Account of the scantiness of their funds, the Board could not complete 'till near the end of the year.
4 That the applications of the memorialists for money being from time to time very urgent, the Board of War, about the middle of Novr last informed them, that, from the exhausted state of the Treasury it was impossible to make large remittances: and describing their prospects as very unpromising, give a general assurance that money shall be supplied as fast as it can be obtained.
5 That the said Memorialists, in their answer to the above letter, about the beginning of Dec.r following, under the impression of inability in the Board of War to compass large purchases, submit to their decision a proposed one the object of which was not supposed to exceed two hundred thousand dollars.
6 That the Board in their letter of 5 Jany last in answer to the above, reject the proposal apparently on account of the scarcity of money, and explicitly forbid further purchases: but before this could reach Boston, the purchase mentioned in the Memorial, amounting to at least thirty thousand Pounds Sterling, was made: the terms of which, tho' favorable as to the time of payment, and for aught that appears to your Committee, in every other respect, the Board of War are unwilling to fulfil as far exceeding the drift and meaning of their orders, and farther still the ability of their funds.
7 That on the other hand the Memorialists alledge the indefinite latitude of the orders, the advantage of the purchase, their good intentions to promote the publick good, and the great detriment which they must suffer, unless their contract is assumed by the Board.
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On mature consideration and the foregoing State of Facts your Committee declare their opinion--
That the orders given by the Board of War did not fully justify the Memorialists in making a purchase to so large an amount at the time when, and under the circumstances wherein, it was made.
But that the articles contracted for being necessary for the Army, and the intentions of the Memorialists in making the contract being apparently directed to promote the public interest, and moreover the terms not being unfavorable, it ought to be complied with as far as possible.
The Committee Submit the following Resolution.
Resolved, That the purchase of cloathing for the use of the army, made by Otis and Henly, of Boston, on the 13 day of January last, as agents appointed by the Board of War for that purpose, be confirmed; and that the Board of Treasury agree with David Henly on the best mode of payment, taking care that as large a portion as possible be paid in loan office certificates.
That an interest of six per cent. per annum, be allowed on such part as cannot be immediately discharged, until payment is made.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of William Churchill Houston, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, IV, folio 479.]
An act passed by the legislature of the State of New Jersey, in pursuance of the resolutions of Congress, of the 18 March last was laid before Congress:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treasury.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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