1. This enclosure, dated May 9, 1792, reads in part as follows: “I have appointed, and by these presents do appoint the Island of South Hero in Lake Champlain to be the Port of Entry and Delivery within and for the District of Vermont” (LC, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress).

Authorization for Washington’s determination of a port of entry for the District of Vermont was given by Section 19 of “An Act for raising a farther sum of money for the protection of the frontiers, and for other purposes therein mentioned.” This section reads in part as follows: “… the President of the United States … is authorized to appoint such place within the district of Vermont to be the port of entry and delivery within the said district, as he may deem expedient, any thing in the act, intituled ‘An act giving effect to the laws of the United States within the state of Vermont,’ to the contrary notwithstanding” (1 Stat. description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston, 1845). description ends 263 [May 2, 1792]).