Treasury Department Circular to the Collectors of the Customs, 10 October 1789
Treasury Department Circular to the
Collectors of the Customs
Treasury Department
October 10th. 1789
Sir
I observe that by the 24th. Section of the Act for Registering and Clearing vessels1 &c. it is provided, that Vessels bound to foreign parts should deliver manifests of their Cargoes to the Collectors of the Ports from which they are to sail.
The object of this provision doubtless was to obtain a knowledge of the exports of the Country: to carry which into effect I am to desire that a regular account may be kept of the articles exported; and that quarter yearly returns be made to this office.
To render those returns uniform I shall shortly transmit a model. The first I shall expect to receive will be made up to the last of Decemr which I shall be glad to have as speedily as possible after that time, to be ready for the inspection of Congress when they meet.
Enclosed you will receive an Act2 for the suspending part of the Act for regulating the Collection of the Duties on Tonnage &c.
I am Sir Your Obedt. servant
A Hamilton
Sect of the Treasury
LS, to Sharp Delany, Bureau of Customs, Philadelphia; LS, to Richard Harris, The Indiana Historical Society Library, Indianapolis; LS, to Jedediah Huntington, MS Division, New York Public Library; L[S], to Benjamin Lincoln, RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1807, Vol. 4, National Archives; LS, to John Scott, Olin Library, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; L[S], to Otho H. Williams, Office of the Secretary, United States Treasury Department; copy, to Otho H. Williams, RG 56, Circulars of the Office of the Secretary, “Set T,” National Archives; copy, United States Finance Miscellany, Treasury Circulars, Library of Congress.
1. 55–65 (September 1, 1789). For Section 24, see p. 61.
2. 69–70 (September 16, 1789).