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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 --SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1787.
Congress assembled present as before.
The committee consisting of Mr [William Samuel] Johnson Mr [Rufus] King Mr [William] Pierce Mr [Abraham] Clarke and Mr [Charles] Pettit to whom was referred a report3 of the board of treasury on certain proposals for coining copper, having reported4
[Note 3: 3 See April 9, 1787.]
[Note 4: 4 See April 20, 1787.]
That the board of treasury be authorised to contract for three hundred tons of copper coin of the foederal standard agreeably to the proposition of Mr James Jarvis; provided that the premium to be allowed to the United States on the
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amount of the copper coin contracted for be not less than 15 per cent, that it be coined at the expence of the contractor but under the inspection of an Officer appointed and paid by the United States. That the Obligations to be given for the payment of the copper coin to be delivered under such contract be redeemable withinyears after the date thereof with an option of discharging the same at an earlier period that they bear an Interest not exceeding six per cent per annum and that the principal and interest accruing thereon be payable within the United States. That the whole of the monies arising from the said contract shall be sacredly appropriated and applied to the reduction of the domestic debt.
A motion was made by Mr [James] Madison seconded by Mr [William] Few to strike out the last clause. And on the question, shall the last clause stand viz That the whole of the monies &c the yeas and nays being required by Mr [Charles] Pettit,
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So the question was lost and the Clause was struck out.
A clause1 being substituted in the room of that struck out and the blank filled the whole was agreed to as follows,
[Note 1: 1 Two substitute clauses in the writing of Mr. Abraham Clark are attached to the original report in Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 26, pp. 639--640. The first, which is crossed out, reads as follows: "That the whole of the monies Arising from said Contract shall be apportioned to each respective State to be by the respective Legislatures thereof Appropriated to the Reduction of the Domestick Debt of the U.S." The second is the form of the clause as adopted.]
Resolved2 That the board of treasury be and they are hereby authorised to contract for three hundred tons of copper Coin of the foederal standard agreeably to the proposition of Mr James Jarvis; provided that the premium, to be allowed to the United States on the amount of copper Coin contracted for, be not less than fifteen per cent; that it be coined at the expence of the contractor, but under the inspection of an Officer appointed and paid by the United States.
[Note 2: 2 Printed copies of this resolve on copper coinage, attested by Charles Thomson, are in Papers of the Continental Congress, Broadsides.]
That the Obligations to be given, for the payment of the copper coin to be delivered under such contract, be redeemable within twenty years after the date thereof, that they bear an interest not exceeding six per cent per annum and that the principal and interest accruing thereon be payable within the United States. That the whole of the aforesaid loan shall be sacredly appropriated and applied to the reduction of the domestic debt of the United States and the premium thereon towards the payment of the interest of the foreign debt.
3On a report4 of the Board of Treasury to whom it was referred to report a plan for selling for public Securities, the Townships surveyed in the Western Territory,
[Note 3: 3 At this point John Fisher takes up the entry.]
[Note 4: 4 See April 5, 1787.]
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Resolved That after the Secretary at War shall have drawn for the proportionate quantity of the lands already surveyed which were assigned to the late Army, agreeably to the Ordinance1 of the 20th May 1785, the remainder shall be advertised for Sale in one of the Newspapers at least of each of the States, for the Space of four months from the date of the Advertisement, [and] at the expiration of which time [five months from this day], the sale of the land shall commence in the place where Congress shall sit, and continue from day to day until the same shall be disposed of; provided that none of the Land shall be sold at a less price than one dollar per Acre, and that the Sale shall be made agreeably to the mode pointed out by the Ordinance aforesaid.
[Note 1: 1 Journals, XXVIII, pp. 375--381.]
Resolved That one third of the purchase money shall be immediately paid in any of the public securities of the United States to the Treasurer of the said States; and that the remaining two thirds shall be paid in like manner in three months after the date of the sale, on which payment (a Certificate thereof being previously furnished by the Treasurer to the Board of Treasury) Titles to the lands shall be given to the purchasers by the Board of Treasury, agreeably to the terms prescribed by the said Ordinance; provided, that if the second payment shall not be made in three months as aforesaid the first payment shall be forfeited, and the land shall again be exposed to Sale.
Ordered, That the Board of Treasury take the Necessary measures for carrying the aforesaid resolutions into effect, and also for exhibiting the Surveys of the Lands.
2When the foregoing Act was under consideration a motion was made by Mr [Nathaniel] Gorham seconded by Mr [Edward] Carrington to amend it by striking out the words "in the place where Congress shall sit" and in the room
[Note 2: 2 Charles Thomson here resumes the entry.]
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thereof inserting "at Philadelphia", And on the question to agree to the Amendment the yeas and nays being required by Mr Mitchel,
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So the question was lost.
[Report of Board of Treasury on motion for repealing requisition1]
[Note 1: 1 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 139, pp. 511--512, read April 21, 1787. Passed May 3. See April 18, 1787.]
The Board of Treasury to whom was referred a Motion for Repealing the Special Requisition of the 21st. of October last; together with the Resolve directing the Board of Treasury to open a Loan on the Credit of the said Requisition,
Beg leave to Report,
That the said Requisition has not to the knowledge of this Board, been complied with by any State in the Union, except those of Virginia, and Delaware and by the former in a certain degree only.
The Board are therefore of Opinion, That, as the United States in Congress have thought it expedient to direct, that most of the Troop1s, for which the Special Requisition of the 21st. of October last was intended, should be immediately disbanded, it would be proper to
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adopt the Motion referred to their consideration; so far as it respects the appropriation of the Monies proposed to be raised by the said Requisition, and the mode of Crediting the same in the Books of the Treasury; They therefore submit to the consideration of Congress the following Resolves.
That all Monies accruing from the Requisition of the 21st. of October last, or Advanced by any of the States for the Recruiting, Subsisting, or Clothing of the Troops directed to be raised by the Resolves of Congress of the 20th. of October last, be Credited to such States respectively, on the [specie] Requisition[s] of the 2d. August 1786 [1784, 1785 or 1786 at the option of the States respectively]; Provided, that no State having made such Advances shall obtain Credit therefor, 'till the Accounts relative to the same are Adjusted at the Treasury of the United States.
Resolved, That the Act of Congress of the 21st. of October last, directing the Board of Treasury to Open a Loan on the Credit of the said Requisition, be, and it is hereby repealed.
All of which is humbly Submitted
Samuel Osgood
Walter Livingston
April 20th. 1787.
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