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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, JULY 9, 1788.
Congress assembled present as before.
According to the order of the 9th . of June the board of treasy transmitted1 to Congress an estimate of the sums necessary for the services of the year 1788 including the interest on the foreign and domestic debt and the amount of the capital of the foreign which will become due in the year 1789.
[Note 1: 1 Letter of Board of Treasury to President of Congress, dated July 8, received (read) July 9, 1788. Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 141, I, pp. 369--370. Partial estimates are on pp. 364--366 and 373--380.]
Ordered that this estimate be referred to a comee . of five.2
[Note 2: 2 According to the Committee Book, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 190, p. 198, the committee consisted of Mr. Abraham Clark, Mr. Nathan Dane, Mr. Hugh Williamson, Mr. William Bingham and Mr. Abraham Baldwin. It reported August 4, 1788. Acted on August 20, 1788.]
Congress proceeded in the second reading of the Supplement to the Ordinance3 for disposing of lands in the Western territory4 and this clause being under debate "and no interstices shall be left between surveys less than a mile wide" a motion was made by Mr [Nathan] Dane seconded by Mr [Hugh] Williamson to change "a" into "six" so that it read "that no interstices shall be left less than six miles wide". On the question to agree to this Amendment the yeas and nays were required by Mr [Hugh] Williamson
[Note 3: 3 See February 22, March 19, 24--27, May 26--29, June 19, July 2, 7 and 8, 1788.]
[Note 4: 4 From this point to and including the sentence "So it passed in the affirmative", after the vote on the clause under debate, the margin of the Journal entry is marked with dots and this part of the entry was not published in the Continental Congress edition of the Journals.]
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So it passed in the Affirmative.
The second reading being gone through
Ordered That it be read a third time.
The supplement1 was accordingly read a third time and passed as follows,
[Note 1: 1 The Supplement to the Ordinance for disposing of Western lands was entered by Benjamin Bankson and signed by Cyrus Griffin, President, and Charles Thomson, Secretary, in Register of Ordinances, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 175, pp. 135--141. It was also entered by John Fisher in Western Territory, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 176, pp. 39--44. Printed copies, signed by Charles Thomson, are in Papers of the Continental Congress, Broadsides.]
2A supplement to an ordinance entitled An Ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western territory.
[Note 2: 2 Roger Alden takes up the entry.]
Whereas it is found to be inconvenient to execute that part of the land Ordinance3 passed May 20th . 1785 which directs that certain proportions of lands be allotted to the several states to be sold by the loan Officers in each state; And whereas a sufficient quantity of lands for satisfying the bounties due to the late Army was set apart by the Act4 of Congress
[Note 3: 3 Journals, vol. XXVIII, pp. 375--381.]
[Note 4: 4 Journals, vol. XXXIII, pp. 695--696.]
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passed the 22d of Oct. last, whereby further drafts for satisfying military bounties in lands from the townships lately surveyed are become unnecessary,
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress Assembled, That so much of the said Ordinance passed May the 20th . 1785, as ordains that certain parts of the townships therein directed to be surveyed shall be drawn for in the name of the thirteen States respectively, according to the quotas in the last preceeding requisitions in all the States, in order that the same be sold by the said loan Officers; and also that the Secretary at War shall take by lot from the townships when surveyed certain proportions of land for the use of the late Army, so far as the same may respect future drafts, be, and the same are hereby repealed.
Be it further ordained, That the board of treasury be, and they hereby are authorised and directed to sell those parts of the seven ranges of townships surveyed in the western territory, which are not already sold or drawn for the use of the late army in the same manner, and on the same conditions, and under the same restrictions and limitations as were prescribed in the resolutions1 of Congress of April 21st 1787, except as to the place of sale and the daily continuance thereof, which may be so far varied, that the said board may commence the sales at New York or Philadelphia, and adjourn the same from time to time, to any part or parts of the United States which they may judge most proper for the purpose.
[Note 1: 1 Journals, vol. XXXII, p. 226.]
Be it further ordained, That the Secretary at War issue warrants for bounties of land to the several Officers and soldiers of the late continental Army who may be entitled to such bounties, or to their respective assigns or legal representatives, certifying therein the rank or station of
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each Officer, and the line, regiment corps and company in which the Officer or soldier served.
Be it further ordained, That the Geographer by warrant under his hand and seal appoint one surveyor to each of the two tracts or districts of land set apart for satisfying the said bounties, by the Act of Congress of the 22d of October last; And that the persons entitled to lands by virtue of warrants issued as aforesaid, shall be at liberty to locate them on any part of the two tracts of land set apart as aforesaid, provided that each location and survey shall be bounded on one side by one of the external boundaries of one of the tracts aforesaid, or by some prior survey therein, and the external lines of each survey shall run east and west, north and south,1 except external lines as are formed by such parts thereof excepted as may border upon a river bounding the district and the several surveys shall be in squares, unless where restrained by such river or by the lines of former surveys; and provided also that in every location there shall be a combination of as many warrants as shall make the same at least six miles square, and no interstices shall be left between surveys less than six miles wide.
[Note 1: 1 Charles Thomson resumes the entry.]
Be it further ordained That each surveyor upon making any survey shall protract and lay the same down on a general map to be kept and preserved and shall make a record of each survey in a book to be kept for that purpose and make out and deliver a copy of the survey certified under his hand to the proprietor or proprietors thereof; and the surveyor shall retain in his hands all warrants by him laid out and located until he can transmit the same to the board of treasury which he shall do within one year after laying out the land, certifying thereon under his hand that the same is satisfied. That the surveyors to be appointed as herein
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before directed shall be entitled to receive for the services enjoined them by this Ordinance so much only as shall be allowed and fixed by the governor and judges of the western territory and shall be liable to be displaced by the Geographer for neglect of duty or other misbehaviour in which case he shall supply any vacancy so happening by a new appointment. That each surveyor who may be appointed under this Ordinance, before he enters upon the duties of his office shall take an oath or affirmation, that he will1 justly and truly execute the trust reposed in him as Surveyor of a district of land in the western territory according to the best of his skill and understanding without favor or partiality, which oath or affirmation shall be taken before the Governor or either of the Judges of the western territory, or one of the Justices of the Supreme Court in either any of the United States, and being duly attested, shall be transmitted to the Secretary of Congress to be by him filed of record. That the maps and records before mentioned shall at all times be subject to the orders of Congress, to be removed or deposited wherever they shall direct. That if any Officer or soldier, or Assignee or grantee of either shall desire to have their bounty of land allotted in the townships or fractional parts thereof, lately drawn for the Army by the Secretary at War, out of the first four ranges of townships surveyed west of the Ohio, and shall cause such his desire in writing, together with his land warrant to be deposited in the office of the Secretary at War before the first of July 1789, the said Secretary shall cause so much of the said Townships which, have been drawn for the Army, to be drawn for by lot as will satisfy the warrants so deposited, for which surveys shall be made out and delivered to the several proprietors, signed by the Geographer of the United States, which surveys shall be recorded in a book by the Geographer and lodged in the
[Note 1: 1 Roger Alden again takes up the entry.]
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Treasury Office. And whereas lands are set apart for satisfying military bounties not only in the said districts and townships but also within the limits of purchases made by several companies,
Be it further ordained, That the persons who have purchased tracts of the federal lands shall have credit for so much land as the warrants, issued as aforesaid and delivered by them to the board of treasury, cover, provided that in no case deductions on account of military bounties shall exceed one seventh part of the purchase.
1Done in Congress &c.
[Note 1: 1 Charles Thomson resumes the entry.]
[Report of Secretary of Congress on letter of the Governor of Virginia2]
[Note 2: 2 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 180, p. 78.]
Office of Secy of Congress
July 8, 1788
On the letter3 of the 30th . of June from his Excellency the govr . of Virginia forwarding intelligence recd . from Col Martin touchg the removal of the Cherokees, the causes thereof and the disposition of the Indians in genl
[Note 3: 3 See July 8, 1788.]
The Secy of Congress reports
That the Letter of 30th . June from his Exy the Agreed govr of Virginia with the papers enclosed be referred to the Secy at War to report.4
[Note 4: 4 According to indorsement and the Committee Book, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 190, p. 198, the letter was referred in conformity with the report to the Secretary at War to report. Report rendered July 18, 1788. See September 1, 1788.]
[Report of Board of Treasury on memorial of S. H. Parsons and
J. M. Varnum5]
[Note 5: 5 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 138, II, pp. 219--222, read July 9, 1788. The enclosures are on pp. 235--236, 239--240 and 243. The covering letter, also read, is in Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 140, I, p. 555. According to indorsement and the Committee Book, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 190, p. 198, the report was referred to the Board of Treasury to take order. See June 23 and 24, 1788.]
The Board of Treasury to whom was referred a Memorial of Samuel H. Parsons, and J. M. Varnum Judges of the Western Territory,
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Beg leave to Report
That the object of the Memorialists is to obtain the authority of Congress, for charging their Salaries as Judges, from the time of their appointment instead of the period of taking the Oath of Office.
That the reasons assigned for this application are annexed to the accounts of the Memorialists, Copies of which are herewith transmitted.
On the above Memorial the Board beg leave to observe, That, it is the general Rule of the Treasury to compute the Salaries of Public Officers, from the time of their taking the Oaths of Office; except in cases where, the Claimants can prove, that they have been actually employed in the Public Service, previous to such period, and have been prevented by some peculiar circumstances from taking the requisite Oaths.
That on the reasons offered by the Memorialists, being submitted together with their respective accounts to the examining Officers of the Treasury, they have reported; that the Governor of the said Territory, is the person best qualified for determining when the Judges began to execute the Duties of their respective Offices; at which period the Act for their appointment declares that their Salary should commence.
In this opinion, the Board concur; as a precedent may be otherwise established, which will render it altogether Indeterminate at what period the Salaries of Persons holding Offices under Congress should commence.
The Memorialists will at present be entitled to receive their Salaries as other Officers of the Civil Department, from the time of their taking the Oaths of Office; which appears to have been on the 4th of April last; and should it hereafter appear equitable that an extra allowance should be made for the Services stated to have been performed by them previous to the period of taking the Oaths; the United States will without doubt make such compensation as shall appear adequate, on the proper proofs being exhibited of the propriety of such claim.
All which is humbly Submitted.
Samuel Osgood
Walter Livinsgton
Arthur Lee
July 9th . 1788.
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[Letter of Board of Treasury respecting accounts in Europe1]
[Note 1: 1 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 140, II, pp. 539--540, read July 9 and acted on July 18, 1788.]
Board of Treasury
July 8th . 1788.
Sir: We esteem it our duty to inform Congress that it will be impracticable to carry into execution their Order of the 22d . May last (so far as the same relates to the expenditure of monies in Europe, on Accot . of the United States) unless all the Books and Papers, which belong to the late Office, of the Commissioner for Foreign Accounts, are transmitted to the Treasury.
The aggregate of these Expenditures is very large, and although general statements of most of those Accounts have been transmitted by Mr . Barclay, they are altogether unaccompanied with Vouchers, and of such a nature, as to render it impossible to make the necessary entries on them in the Books of the Treasury.
The obtaining these Papers, and the careful preservation of them on the route, appears to us a matter of so much importance, that we propose to send a trusty Person by the next Packet to France to receive them of the Hon'ble Mr Jefferson (in whose care they now are) and to bring them to this Country, unless Congress should judge it adviseable to direct otherwise.
We have the honor to be, etc.,
Samuel Osgood
Walter Livingston
Arthur Lee
His Excellency
The President of Congress.
[Letter of Postmastér General regarding mail contracts2]
[Note 2: 2 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 61, pp. 353--355, read July 9, 1788. According to indorsement and the Committee Book, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 190, p. 198, the letter was referred to the committee on the Post Office, appointed July 7, 1788. See the report rendered August 27, 1788. See also September 30 and October 9, 1788.]
General Post Office
New York July 8th 1788.
Sir: I was yesterday honored with the Resolves of Congress of the 3d . Inst . respecting Contracts for the Carriage of the Mail during the
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ensuing year; and, upon perusing them some Difficulties occur, which make an Application to your Excellency necessary; I beg leave to mention them, and to request the farther Directions of Congress.
The Resolve of the 3d . Inst . instructs the Postmaster General "to make Arrangements for the Transportation of the Mail for one Year from the first Day of January next on the Cross Roads mentioned in the Resolves of Congress passed the 4th Septr . 1786 and the 27th . July 1787, on the Principles provided in the Resolution of the 15th . of February 1787;" Upon a Reference to the first of those Resolves your Excellency will observe the following Cross Roads particularly mentioned therein; vizt .
From Portland to Pownalborough in the State of Massachusetts.
From Boston in the State of Massachusetts to the Town of Concord in New Hampshire, and from thence through Exeter to Portsmouth.
From Springfield in the State of Massachusetts to the City of Albany in the State of New York.
The first of these, besides being included in the Clause above quoted from the Resolves of the 3d . Inst . (which expressly require that the Business shall be done "upon the Principles provided is the Resolution of the 15th of February 1787," is also particularly mentioned in the next Clause, which directs the Postmaster General, unconditionally (except as to the Duration of the Contract) "to employ Posts for the regular Transportation of the Mail ..... between Portland and Pownalborough in the State of Massachusetts". Your Excellency will immediately perceive the Embarrassment which such contrary Directions must necessarily create in the mind of the Postmaster General, and that Obedience to both is impracticable.
The two other Cross Roads above mentioned have already been contracted for, for seven Years, agreeably to the Resolve of Congress, of the 4th . September 1786; and the Contracts must, doubtless, be considered as binding upon the Union; but the Resolve of 3d . Inst . if carried into Effect by the Postmaster General's entering into new Contracts for those Routes for one Year from the 1st . of January next, will violate those which are already formed, and subject the Postmaster General to a Prosecution for Damages sustained by the Contractors. I apprehend, Sir, it was not the Intention of Congress to interfere with Contracts already formed, and yet, as no such saving Clause as that contained in the Resolves of 4th . September 1786 is introduced into those of the 3d Inst . it appears as if the Honorable
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Committee entertained a different Idea, and I dare not venture to act upon my own Judgment in this Case.
Your Excellency will observe that one of the Cross Posts directed by the Resolves both of 4th . September 1786, and the 3d . Inst . to be contracted for by the Postmaster General, is "from the Town of Alexandria in the State of Virginia to the Town of Pittsburgh in the State of Pennsylvania, by the Route of Leesburg, Winchester, Fort Cumberland and Bedford;" The Resolve of 20th . May last directs the Postmaster General to "employ Posts" between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh "by the Route of Lancaster, York Town, Carlisle, Chamberstown and Bedford;" if therefore, a Contract should be entered into for the Route from Alexandria to Pittsburgh, there will be two Posts, one private, the other in public Service between Bedford and Pittsburgh; and the Contract with the private Rider must contain, at least by Implication, a Surrender, on the Part of the United States, of the Postage between those two Places, whereby the Revenue will be injured.
Pursuant to the Resolve of May 20th . 1788, I have engaged with a Person for the Route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh for one Year; he has sent a Person, with Horses to be fixed at proper Stations, who, I suppose, is now at Pittsburgh; and it is probable that a regular Transportation of the Mail will commence in the Course of ten Days or a Fortnight. In this State of the Business, Sir, the Resolve of the 3d . Instt . directs me to employ Posts upon that Route for one Year from the first day of January next, at which Time the existing Contract will be but half expired. Here Difficulties, which have been already hinted at, recur; and a new one presents itself; vizt . a double Expence upon the same Road, for half the Period of the present Contract.
Your Excellency, I flatter myself, will excuse these Remarks, as the Difficulties stated are obviously of such a Nature as to be insurmountable, except through the Intervention of Congress; and will your Excellency permit me to submit it to Consideration, whether a standing Instruction to Committees upon the Business of any Department, to consult with the Head of the Department upon the Object
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of their Appointment, would not be useful, as tending to furnish necessary Information, and to prevent Confusion.
I have the Honor to be, etc.,
Eben Hazard1
[Note 1: 1 July 9, 1788. According to the Committee Book, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 190, p. 198, the report of the committee of June 4, 1788, on the letter of Baron yon Steuben, was recommitted to the same committee, which reported July 25, 1788. See July 7, August 25 and September 11, 1788.
According to indorsement the report of the committee on putting the new Constitution into operation was the order of the day for this date. The Committee Book, p. 197, and Reports of Committees, Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 189, p. 36, give July 9, 1788, as the date of the report. No further evidence regarding consideration on this date is available. See July 2, 8, 14 and September 13, 1788.]
His Excy . The President of Congress.
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