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“That the commissioners of loans in the several States shall be allowed...such sums...necessarily expended by them in the purchase of stationary...[And]...for hire of clerks.”
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Printed Document Signed, as Secretary of State, “An Act for making Compensations to the Commissioners of Loans for extraordinary Expenses,” March 3, 1791, Philadelphia. 1 p., 8? x 14? in.
Inventory #27522
Price: $16,000
Historical Background
A key component of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s plan for strengthening the new national government was the assumption of debts accumulated by the states during the Revolutionary War and the repayment of that debt. An act of August 4, 1790, funded the domestic debt, and loan offices existed in each state under the auspices of the federal government.[1] They exercised many of the same functions as the Continental loan offices that they replaced. The commissioners continued to borrow money through a series of popular or subscription loans floated by the federal government. They conducted their operations according to regulations from the Department of the Treasury, received and liquidated old loan certificates, issued new certificates, recorded transfers of ownership, paid interest due, and performed other duties assigned by the Secretary of the Treasury.
On January 13, 1791, Congressman Fisher Ames of Massachusetts made a motion that the House of Representatives appoint a committee to “consider and report whether any, and what, farther compensation is necessary to be made to the Commissioners of Loans.” The House referred the motion to Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and requested his opinion.
On January 25, the federal collector of customs at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, William Heth, took the opportunity raised by the motion by Ames to write to Hamilton, requesting compensation for collectors for their stationery and clerks. Unlike the commissioners of loans, who had fixed salaries, collectors obtained their compensation in fees. The commissioner of loans in Virginia received an annual salary of $1,500. “I dont mean by this,” Heth continued, “to insinuate that his books & stationary, ought not to be allowd him. But I am sure, if it was left to you, you would say, the Collectors are at least equally entitled to similar allowances, even, if their books were not more their own private property, than those of the Comsnrs are theirs. And I am sure, you will ever be against any partiality’s being shewn to any class of the public’s servants.”[2]
On February 14, Hamilton responded to the House of Representatives. He asserted that because “the allowances to the several Commissioners of loans must be considered, as intended to compensate them for their services, and for those expenditures only, which are ordinarily incident to the execution of their respective offices,” it would be appropriate to compensate them for the additional expenses of acquiring stationery and hiring additional clerks during the first year of their service, when “much additional labor and exertion...will be required.” He also observed that based on the rates of compensation, “it was in contemplation of the Legislature [Congress], that some of the Commissioners would stand in need of Clerks, and that others of them would be able to perform the requisite services, themselves.” Those who would always need an additional clerk included the commissioners in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The commissioners in those states could pay a clerk from their annual compensation, but Congress should consider reimbursing them and the other commissioners for any additional clerks required during the first year. Hamilton concluded with language that made its way into the text of the act: “it will be proper, that provision should be made by law, for admitting to the credit of the several Commissioners of Loans, in the settlement of their respective accounts, all such sums as shall appear to have been necessarily expended by them in the purchase of stationary, and for the hire of Clerks, in relation to the execution of their offices, from the commencement of the same to the first day of October next, deducting the salary of one Clerk, in respect to each of the Commissioners of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.”[3] The House considered Hamilton’s response on February 23, appointed a committee to prepare a bill based on Hamilton’s recommendation, voted down an amendment removing specific mention of the four states by a vote of 27 to 23 on February 28, and passed the bill on March 1.
On March 2, the Senate appointed a committee to consider the bill, which reported it with an amendment that struck out the mention of the commissioners in the four states. The Senate passed the amended bill on March 3. Later that day, the House rejected the amended bill by a vote of 22 to 20 and returned it to the Senate. The Senate adhered to their amendment, and the House reconsidered and narrowly voted to “recede from their disagreement to the amendment adhered to by the Senate” by a vote of 23 to 20.[4] President Washington signed the bill into law later that same day.
In 1817, Congress transferred the duties and records of the U.S. commissioners of loans to the Second Bank of the United States, chartered in 1816, and the loan offices ceased to exist.
According to the provisions of the 1789 “Act to provide for the safe keeping of the Acts, Records, and Seal of the United States, and for other purposes,” the Secretary of State was to receive signed bills, orders, and resolutions from the President and “carefully preserve the originals.” This act also directed the Secretary of State to ensure that all such acts were published in at least three public newspapers and to deliver two printed copies “duly authenticated” to the governors of each state. This copy is one of those authenticated by Secretary of State Jefferson and sent to a governor. Vermont was admitted as the 14th state on March 4, 1791, the day after this legislation passed, so Jefferson likely signed only 28 copies of this Act. The Secretary of State also distributed one unsigned, printed copy on smaller paper to each senator and representative in Congress.
Complete Transcript
Congress of the United States:
At the Third Session,
Begun and held at the City of Philadelphia, on
Monday the sixth of December, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety.
An ACT for making Compensations to the Commissioners of Loans for extraordinary Expenses.
BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the commissioners of loans in the several States shall be allowed in the settlement of their accounts, such sums as shall appear to have been necessarily expended by them in the purchase of stationary for the use of their several offices, from the commencement of the same to the first day of October next.
And be it further enacted, That the commissioners of loans in the several States, shall be allowed in the settlement of their several accounts, such sums as they shall have necessarily expended for the hire of clerks to assist in executing the duties of their several offices, from the commencement of the same to the first day of October next.
FREDERICK AUGUSTUST MUHLENBERG,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JOHN ADAMS, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate.
Approved, March the third, 1791.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States.
Deposited among the Rolls in the Office of the Secretary of State.
Th: Jefferson Secretary of State.
Condition:Lightly spotted; tiny ink burn hole in upper left corner; matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas.
[1]On August 6, 1790, President George Washington nominated the following commissioners of loans: Nathaniel Gilman for New Hampshire, Nathaniel Appleton for Massachusetts, William Imlay for Connecticut, John Cochran for New York, James Ewing for New Jersey, Thomas Smith for Pennsylvania, James Tilton for Delaware, Thomas Harwood for Maryland, John Hopkins for Virginia, William Skinner for North Carolina, John Neufville for South Carolina, and Richard Wylley for Georgia. Washington initially left the appointment for Rhode Island blank but nominated Jabez Bowen on August 7. The Senate confirmed each of the appointments. Gilman declined the federal appointment for New Hampshire, and Washington nominated William Gardner in his stead in December 1790.
[2]William Heth to Alexander Hamilton, January 25, 1791, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Apparently, Hamilton did not act on Heth’s suggestion. On June 16, 1791, Heth again wrote to Hamilton, questioning the legality of Hamilton’s request for a statement of outbound tonnage. Heth continued with an overt reference to this legislation, “Is it not requiring extra service of Collectors wch. are quite independent of the defined duties of their offices, such as are not contemplated in the law under which they were appointed, and for which, consequently, no compensation is provided? Ought the labor or time of any man to be ask’d by the public for nothing? The Collectors, not having, like the favorite officers of Congress, the Loan Officers, who were on handsome salaries; any thing allowed them for Clerks wages, office rent, or extra services & expences, I consider every thing required of them, which is not defined, or comprehended in the latter part of the 6th. sectn. of the Collection law, as unjustifiable and oppressive, and with which, they are not obliged to comply.” William Heth to Alexander Hamilton, June 16, 1791, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. See also Alexander Hamilton to William Heth, June 24, 1791, Private Collection.
[3]Alexander Hamilton, Report on Compensation to the Commissioners of Loans, February 14, 1791, RG 233, Reports of the Treasury Department, 1791-1792, Vol. II, National Archives, Washington, DC.
[4]Only three Congressmen changed their positions on March 3 from voting against the amendment to voting for it: Peter Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, George Partridge of Massachusetts, and John Vining of Delaware. Seventeen additional Congressmen, including James Madison, only voted at one or the other time but not both; fourteen of them voted against the amendment.
