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Thomas Jefferson 2nd Congress Act Alexander Hamilton's Assumption Plan Settlement of Accounts between United States and Individual States
Thomas Jefferson 2nd Congress Act Alexander Hamilton's Assumption Plan Settlement of Accounts between United States and Individual States
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Thomas Jefferson
Philadelphia, PA, February 27, 1793
Thomas Jefferson 2nd Congress Act Alexander Hamilton's Assumption Plan Settlement of Accounts between United States and Individual States
DS

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Printed Document Signed, "An Act in addition to, and alteration of the act, entitled, ‘An Act to extend the time limited for settling the accounts of the United States with the individual States,'" February 27, 1793, Philadelphia, PA. Signed in print by Jonathan Trumbull, Speaker of the House of Representatives; John Adams, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate; and George Washington, President of the United States. 1 p., framed with an engraving of Jefferson to 26.625" x 28.625". Expected folds; some soiling on folds.

As part of his duties as Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson signed this act of the Second Congress, passed on February 27, 1793. It revised two existing bills regarding the assumption of state debts by the federal government after the Revolutionary War to address questions about the new states of Vermont and Kentucky.

Excerpts
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the second section of the act, entitled, ‘An Act to extend the time limited for settling the accounts of the United States with the individual States,' which extended the powers of the board of commissioners to the settlement of the accounts between the United States and the state of Vermont, be and hereby is repealed."

"And be it further enacted, That the board of commissioners established to settle the accounts between the United States and the individual states, in apportioning the aggregate of all the balances due to each state, between the states, agreeably to the act, entitled, ‘An Act to provide more effectually for the settlement of the accounts between the United States and the individual states,' shall have no regard to the state of Vermont."

"And be it further enacted, That in the apportioning of the balances aforesaid, the state of Kentucky shall be deemed to be included in the state of Virginia, the admission of the said state of Kentucky as a member of the Union notwithstanding."

Historical Background
Efforts to settle accounts between the United States and the individual states began as early as May 1787, and additional acts were passed in August 1789 and August 1790. On January 23, 1792, Congress passed "An Act to extend the time limited for settling the Accounts of the United States with the individual States," giving the commissioners an additional year to July 1, 1793. This act of February 27, 1793, was the last in the series.

In September 1788, the Confederation Congress appointed a board of three commissioners to settle the accounts between the United States and the individual states: John Taylor Gilman (1753-1828) of New Hampshire from the Eastern States, William Irvine (1741-1804) of Pennsylvania from the Middle States, and Abraham Baldwin (1754-1807) of Georgia from the Southern States. When Baldwin was elected to Congress in the spring of 1789, he resigned, and Congress gave the president the power to appoint commissioners to the board. President George Washington appointed John Kean (1756-1795) of South Carolina to replace Baldwin. In August 1790, Washington reappointed Gilman, Irvine, and Kean. When Gilman resigned from the board in November 1790, Washington appointed Woodbury Langdon (1739-1805) of New Hampshire in December to replace him.

During the summer of 1790, the work of the board of commissioners became an integral part of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's Funding and Assumption plan for the federal government to assume the debts that the states had accrued during the Revolutionary War. As part of the Compromise of 1790 between Alexander Hamilton on one side and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison on the other, Hamilton received their support for his Funding and Assumption plan, and they received his support for locating the permanent capital on the banks of the Potomac River. The settlement of accounts between the states and the federal government was intended to equalize the per capita burden of war expenditures among the states. Each state received credit for amounts it spent for the war and was debited for amounts received from the federal government.

From January 1777 to March 1791, the State of Vermont existed as an independent state. The Continental Congress did not recognize the independence of Vermont because of objections from New York, and Vermont had no seat in the Continental Congress. Representatives of Vermont conducted negotiations with the Province of Quebec, but after the British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781, Vermont ended these negotiations and sought to become part of the United States. After the legislature of New York consented to Vermont statehood in 1790, Vermont became the fourteenth state on March 4, 1791.

On June 1, 1792, nine western counties in the District of Kentucky in the State of Virginia became the fifteenth state in the Union.

This act simplified the process for the commissioners by instructing them to ignore Vermont in their calculations and to treat the new state of Kentucky as part of Virginia for the purposes of settling the accounts between the United States and the individual states. Commissioners William Irvine, John Kean, and Woodbury Langdon completed their report and submitted it to President George Washington in June 1793. The report found that a total of $3,517,584 was due to the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia, and the same total was due from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. In other words, seven states had contributed more and six less than their quotas; the latter states owed that amount to the former states. President Washington submitted the commissioners' report to Congress on December 5, 1793. In 1794, the federal government issued $3.5 million in securities to the creditor states.

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 responsible for receiving 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. The Secretary of State also distributed one unsigned, printed copy on smaller paper to each senator and representative in Congress.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: framed: 28.625" x 26.625" x 1.25"
  • Medium: DS

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