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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 --TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1785.
Congress assembled. Present, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pensylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina; and from the state of Connecticut, Mr. [William Samuel] Johnson; from South Carolina, Mr. [Charles] Pinckney, and from Georgia, Mr. [William] Houstoun.
Congress proceeded to consider the Ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of Lands in the Western Territory, which is in the following words:
An Ordinance for ascertaining the Mode of disposing of Lands in the Western Territory.
Be it Ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the territory ceded by individual states to the United States, which has been purchased of the Indian inhabitants, shall be disposed of in the following manner:
A surveyor from each state shall be appointed by Congress, who shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of his duty, to be administered by the geographer of the United States, who is hereby empowered and directed to administer the same.
The geographer, under whose direction the surveyors shall act, shall form such regulations for their conduct, as he shall deem necessary, and shall have authority to suspend them for misconduct in office, and shall make report of the same to Congress.
The surveyors shall proceed to divide the said territory into townships of seven miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles, unless where the boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same impracticable, and then they shall depart from this rule no farther than such particular circumstances may require.
There shall be allowed for the surveying of a township at the rate of two dollars per mile, including the wages of chain carriers, markers, and every other expence, and so in proportion for every fractional part of a township.
The first line, running north and south as aforesaid, shall begin on the Ohio, at a point that shall be found to be due north from the termination of a line, which has been run as the southern boundary
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of the State of Pensylvania; and the first line running east and west shall begin at the same point, and shall extend throughout the whole territory. The geographer shall designate the townships or parts of townships, by numbers progressively from south to north, always beginning each range with No. 1, and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the westward. The first range extending from the Ohio to the lake Erie, being marked No. 1.
The lines shall be measured with a chain; shall be plainly marked by chaps on the trees, and exactly described on a plat, whereon shall be noted, at their proper distances, all mines, salt-springs and salt-licks that shall come to his knowledge, and all water-courses, mountains, and other remarkable and permanent things, over or near which such lines shall pass.
The plats of the townships respectively, shall be marked by subdivisions into sections of 1 mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from 1 to 49. Always beginning the succeeding range of the sections with the number next to that which the preceding one concluded. And where, from the causes before-mentioned, only a part of a township shall be surveyed, the sections protracted thereon shall bear the same numbers as if the townships had been entire. And these sections shall be subdivided into lots of 320 acres.
The geographer and surveyors shall pay the utmost attention to the variation of the magnetic needle: and shall run and note all lines by the true meridian, certifying, with every plat, what was the variation at the times of running the lines thereon noted.
As soon as five ranges of townships, and fractional parts of townships, in the direction from south to north, shall have been surveyed, from time to time, the geographer shall transmit plats thereof to the board of treasury, who shall record the same with the report, in well bound books to be kept for that purpose. The secretary at war shall take by lot therefrom, a number of townships and fractional parts of townships, equal to one seventh part of the whole of such five ranges, as nearly as may be, for the use of the late continental army, [and he shall make a similar draught, from time to time, until a sufficient quantity is drawn from the return, to satisfy the military claims,]1 to be applied in manner hereinafter directed. The board of treasury shall then cause the remaining numbers to be drawn for,
[Note 1: 1 The words in brackets are not in the printed broadside but were added in manuscript by Bankson, on a small square of paper, and pasted in the Journal.]
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in the name of the thirteen states respectively, according to the quotas in the last preceding requisition on the states; provided, that in case more land than its proportion is allotted for sale, in any state, at any distribution, a deduction be made therefor at the next.
The board of treasury shall transmit duplicates of the said original plats so drawn for, to the commissioners of the loan-offices of the Several states, who, after giving notice of not less than two nor more than six months, by causing advertisements to be posted up at the courthouses, or other noted places in every county, and to be inserted in one news-paper published in the states of their residence respectively, shall proceed to sell the townships or fractional parts, at public vendue; or he may sell any township by sections, provided he sells them in the order of their number on the plat, and not otherwise, and that he does not offer a second township for sale by sections, till the whole of the former is sold; provided, that none of the lands within the said territory be sold under the price of one dollar the acre, to be paid in specie, or loan-office certificates reduced to specie value, by the scale of depreciation, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States, including interest, besides the expence of the survey and other charges thereon, which are hereby rated at 49 dollars the township, in specie or certificates as aforesaid. and so in the same proportion for a fractional part thereof.
When any township or part of a township shall have been sold, as aforesaid, and the money or certificates received therefor, the loan-officer shall deliver a deed, in the following terms:
To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:
Know ye, That for the consideration ofthe United States of America have granted unto C. D. the township, or part of a township, numberedto hold to the said C. D. his heirs and assigns for ever, subject nevertheless to such reservations as are contained in an ordinance, bearing dateday ofin the year
In witness whereof, the said A. B. loan-officer of the said state, hath hereunto set his hand, and affixed the seal of his office, thisday ofin the yearand of the independence of the United States of America the.
Which deeds shall be recorded in proper books, and shall be certified to have been recorded, previous to its being delivered to the purchaser,
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The commissioners of the loan offices respectively, shall make returns to the board of treasury every three months, of the sales of the townships, or parts of townships committed to their charge, with the persons' names to whom sold; and shall transmit all sums of money or certificates as aforesaid received for the same, which shall be duly entered in the books of the treasury.
If any township, or part of township, remains unsold for 18 months, after the plat shall have been received by the commissioners of the loan-office, the same shall be returned to the board of treasury, and shall be sold in such manner as Congress may hereafter direct.
There shall be reserved for the United States out of every township, the four corner sections, being numbered, 1, 7, 43, 49, and out of every part of a township, so many sections of the same numbers as shall be found thereon.
Also one-third part of all gold, silver, lead and copper mines, to be sold, or otherwise disposed of, as Congress shall hereafter direct.
There shall be reserved the central section of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within the said township. And whereas Congress, by the resolutions of September 16th and 18th, in the year 1776, and the 12th August, 1780, stipulated grants of land to the officers and soldiers who had engaged, or should engage in the service of the United States during the war, and continue therein to the close of the same, or until discharged by Congress, and to the representatives of such officers and soldiers as should be slain by the enemy, in the following proportions, to wit:
To a major general, 1100 acres; to a brigadier, 850; to a colonel, 500; to a lieutenant colonel, 450; to a major, 400; to a captain, 300; to a lieutenant, 200; to an ensign, 150; and to a non-commissioned officer and soldier, 100. For complying therefore with such engagements, be it ordained, that the secretary at war, from the returns in his office, or such other sufficient evidence as the nature of the case may admit, determine who are the objects of the above resolutions and engagements, and the quantity of lands to which such persons, or their representatives, are respectively entitled, and cause the township, or fractional parts of townships, therein before reserved for the use of the late continental army, to be drawn for in such manner as he shall deem expedient, to answer the purpose of an impartial distribution.
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He shall, from time to time, transmit certificates to the commissioners of the loan-offices of the different states, to the lines of which the military claimants respectively belong, specifying the name and rank of the party, the terms of his engagement and time of his service, and the division, brigade, regiment or company to which he belonged, the quantity of land he is entitled to, and the township out of which his portion is to be taken.
The commissioners of the loan-offices shall execute deeds for such undivided proportions, in manner and form herein before mentioned, varying only in such a degree as to make the same conformable to the certificate from the secretary at war.
Where any military claimants of bounty in lands shall not belong to the line of any particular state, similar certificates shall be sent to the board of treasury, who shall execute deeds to the parties for the same.
The board of treasury, and the commissioners of the loan-offices in the states, shall, within 18 months, return receipts to the secretary at war, for all deeds which have been delivered, as also all the original deeds which remain in their hands for want of applicants; which deeds so returned, shall be preserved in the office, until the parties or their representatives require the same.
Saving and confirming always, to all officers and soldiers entitled to lands on the northern side of the Ohio, by donation or bounty from the commonwealth of Virginia, and to all persons claiming under them, all rights to which they are so entitled by the laws of the said state, and the acts of Congress accepting the cession of western territory from the said state.1
[Note 1: 1 The text in the Journal is supplied from the printed broadside which Bankson wafered into the record in lieu of copying out the Ordinance. See ante, April 12, and post, May 20.]
A motion was made by Mr. [William] Grayson, seconded by Mr. [William] Ellery, to recommit it; and on the question for recommitting, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Hugh] Williamson,
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So the question was lost.
And the following Clause "Saving and confirming always, to all Officers and Soldiers entitled to Lands on the northern side of the Ohio, by donation or bounty from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to all persons claiming under them, all rights to which they are entitled by the Laws of the said State, and the Acts of Congress, accepting the Cession of Western Territory from the said State" being under debate. It was agreed, that the further consideration thereof be postponed till tomorrow.
Mr. James Wilson, a Delegate for Pennsylvania, attended, and produced Credentials under the Seal of the State; by which it appears, that on the seventh day of this present month, he was elected a Delegate to represent the said State in Congress, for the present year.
Pennsylvania, ss. [SEAL] John Dickinson. In the Name and by the authority of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.--The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth,
To the Honorable James Wilson Esquire:
Whereas on the seventh day of this Month You was by the General Assembly of this Commonwealth appointed a Delegate: You are therefore hereby Commissioned a Delegate to represent this State in Congress for the present year.
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Given in Council under the hand of His Excellency John Dickinson Esquire President and the Sea] of the State at Philadelphia this eighteenth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty five.
Attest
John Armstrong, Jr. Sy.1
[Note 1: 1 The original is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, Pennsylvania, Credentials of Delegates. It was entered in No. 179, Record of Credentials, and not in the Journal.
On this day was read a letter of April 25 from Secretary at War Henry Knox, regarding the memorial of Captains Jesse Cook and Jesse Grant, and Thursday, March 16, 1786, assigned for its consideration. Knox's letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 151, folio 1.
Also, was read, a letter from the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, dated April 26, transmitting a translation of a letter from Col. J. G. Diriks. Jay's letter is in No. 80, I, folio 137. Diriks', dated April 20, requesting payment of money due him and a recommendation to the sovereign of his native country, is, in French, in No. 78, VIII, folio 123; the Foreign Office translation is on folio 119.]
On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. [Hugh] Williamson, Mr. [Rufus] King, Mr. [David] Howell, Mr. [William Samuel] Johnson and Mr. [Samuel] Holten, to whom was referred a memorial of Moses Hazen, Esq. who alleges that sundry charges which have been rejected by the Commissioner of Army Accounts, are well founded, and that he is possessed of vouchers by which the same may be established and prays that the same may be considered,
Resolved, That the claims of Moses Hazen, Esq. be referred to the Board of Treasury, together with the objections that have been made to those Claims by the Commissioner of Army Accounts, to be examined and finally settled by the said Boards as a Court of Appeals and that the Board examine the same, and report thereon. [and that the same be examined and that the parties be notified and allowed to introduce such new and farther evidence as may enable the board as a court of appeals finally to settle the same.]2
[Note 2: 2 The report, in the writing of Hugh Williamson, except the part in brackets which is in the writing of Rufus King, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, III, folios 107 and 111½. The words crossed out are in the original report, but not in the Journal. According to the indorsement the report was read this day and passed. Hazen's memorial is in No. 42, III, folio 514. See post, May 11.]
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On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. [William] Ellery, Mr. [John] Bull and Mr. [John] Sitgreaves, to whom was referred a petition of Duncan Campbell with its enclosures,
Resolved, That the petition of Duncan Campbell, with its enclosures, be referred to the Commissioner of Army Accounts to report.1
[Note 1: 1 According to Committee Book No. 190, the Commissioner reported September 12.]
Board of Treasury, April 25th., 1785.
The Commissioners of the Board of Treasury to whom the Memorial of Fleury Mesplet was referred Report, That it appears from the secret Journals of the 26 February, 1776, that Congress,
"Resolved that Monsieur Mesplet Printer be engaged to go to Canada and there set up his press and carry on the printing business and the Congress engage to defray the expence of transporting him his family and printing utensils to Canada and will moreover pay him the sum of two hundred dollars."
That in consequence of this resolution the sum of two hundred dollars was paid to him on the 26th. of February for which sum it does not appear he was to be accountable.
That teams and boats were provided at the public expence to transport Mr Mesplet family and baggage from Philadelphia to Montreal but that it does not appear that the subsistence of himself and family consisting of six persons from Philadelphia to Montreal was paid which expence the Board presume was intended by Congress to be included in the charge of transportation.
That Mr Mesplet in his account charges the sum of three hundred and thirty dollars for the extra expences in subsisting thirty men employed in navigating the public boats being at the rate of one half dollar for each man per day that it does not appear that Mr Mesplet was authorized to make this extra expence neither is the same supported by any voucher though it is probable that some extra expence might have accrued in subsisting the persons employed to navigate the boats as aforesaid.
That with respect to the other articles in Mr Mesplet's account which ammounts to eight thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine dollars they find them neither warranted by any resolutions of Congress
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nor supported by vouchers that they consist of claims of indemnification for damage sustained in the sale of Books and for debts contracted in the maintainance of himself, workmen and family whilst the said Mesplet was on account of his attachment to the cause of America confined in Jail: that the Board not being competent to determine on the merit of such claims the same can only be submitted to the wisdom and benevolence of Congress.
From this state of facts the Board submit the following resolution.
That the sum of four hundred and twenty six 45/90 dollars should be paid to Mr Fleury de Mesplet on account of expences attending the transporting himself, family and printing utensils from Philadelphia to Montreal.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, signed by Samuel Osgood and Walter Livingston, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 138, II, folio 162. According to the indorsement, it was read this day and passed May 27, 1787.]
The Committee to whom was referred a petition Signed Samuel Kirkland and dated Stockbridge April 6th., 1785, beg leave to lay before Congress the following report,
Your Committee find that by a resolution of Congress of July 18, 1775, the Petitioner was employed to Secure the friendship of the Six Nations of Indians and to continue them in a State of neutrality with respect to the controversy between Great Britain, and the then Colonies. That by another resolution of November 11 following he received a grant of £65 Sterling for the insuing year, and the sum of £60 Sterling more to be by him disposed of for the benefit of the Indians with whom he was to be continued for the purposes aforesaid, and for the propagation of the gospel among them. That on the 24 Jany. 1777 he was allowed a Salary of 444 dollars as Missionary among Said Indians for that year commencing from Nov. 11, 1776, and a Sum of 300 dollars as a compensation for his extra Services and expences as Chaplain and Missionary, and that on the 16 of October 1779 he was appointed Chaplain to the Garrison of Fort Schuyler, and the other posts established in that quarter, with the pay and Subsistence of a Brigade Chaplain and to continue to pay as much attention to the Oneidas and the other Indians contiguous to them as might be consistent with this appointment.
Your Committee also find that the Petitioner purchased two milch cows of the Oneida Indians, which were killed and delivered to Said Indians for their Support in the Garrison of Fort Schuyler in the
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Summer of the year 1780 and that he advanced to Said Indians in articles of Clothing the amount of 37½ dollars for which supplies he never has received any compensation.
Your Committee also find that the petitioner lost his house and other effects to the amount according to his estimation of 666 Dollars by the burning of the Oneida Town and the adjacent villages in the year 1780, and that he has been exposed to a variety of other sufferings, and to many dangers during the late Revolution in the course of which he has rendered to the United States valuable services and has acquired great respect and influence among the Indians with whom he has been conversant, and in the opinion of your Comte. is thereby entitled to the special notice and favor of Congress. Whereupon your Committee beg leave to submit the following resolutions.
Resolved, That the Board of Treasury take order for paying to the Revd. Samuel Kirkland the sum of 77 dollars and a P. half for articles of food and cloathing by him furnished for the use and comfort of the Oneida Indians in the years 1780 and 1781
Resolved, That the Paymaster General settle the accounts of the Revd. Saml. Kirkland for his services as Brigade P. Chaplain under the appointment of Octo. 16, 1779 and allow him the pay and subsistence therein specified to the 3rd. day of Nov. 1783.
Resolved, That in consideration of the services rendered to the U. States among the Indians of the Six Nations by the P. Revd. Samuel Kirkland, since the 3rd. day of November 1783, the Board of Treasury take order for paying him the sum of 250 dollars.
Resolved, That the Revd. Samuel Kirkland, be and he is hereby appointed Chaplain to the troops of the U. States to be stationed at the western Posts, and that he continue his services among the Indians of the six nations and endeavour to preserve their attachment to the interests of the U. States, and that for these services he receive the allowance of --.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of David Howell, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, III, folio 337. Indorsed: "3 first resolutions passed June 1, 1785."]
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[Motion--Mr. [Hugh] Williamson.]
That the Officers of the Line of the State of N. Carolina in the service of the U. S. who have continued in service to the end of the War have the same payments made to them in specie as have been made to Officers and privates in the Line of other States for the years 1782 and 1783.1
[Note 1: 1 This motion, in the writing of Benjamin Bankson, is entered in Committee Book No. 190; it was referred to the Board of Treasury this day, to report.
Also, according to Committee Book No. 190, the committee consisting of Mr. [William] Hindman, Mr. [William] Houstoun and Mr. [Abiel] Foster, reported upon the memorial of George Fisher. See ante, April 18, and post, April 29.
Also, according to the indorsement a memorial dated April 26 from Udny Hay praying for the contract to carry the mail between Albany and Canada, was this day referred to the Committee for regulating the Post Office. It is in No. 41, IV, folio 256, and is indorsed: "Acted upon July 22, 1788."
April 26: The following committees were appointed:
Mr. [James] Monroe, Mr. [William] Ellery and Mr. [William Samuel] Johnson, on letter of April 25, from George Rogers Clark, Oliver Wolcott and Richard Butler, Commissioners for negotiating with the Indians. A report was rendered April 29. The letter is in No. 56, folio 317.
Mr. [William] Grayson, Mr. [Samuel] Holten and Mr. [William] Ellery, on letter of April 23 from Joseph Carleton, retiring from the service and praying for compensation for extra services and expences. It was read this day and a report rendered June 7, which was read in Congress June 9. Carleton's letter is in No. 60, folio 139.
Also, the memorial of sundry officers in the Pennsylvania Line praying for an allowance for expenses in returning from the southward after being deranged, was read and referred to the Board of Treasury to report. Report was rendered April 28 and read in Congress April 29. The memorial, signed by Jeremiah Jackson, on behalf of himself and others, is in No. 42, IV, folio 70.
Committee Book No. 190.]
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