Report on Several Petitions Seeking Indemnification for Various Sums of Paper Money Received During the Late War, [17 November 1792]
Report on Several Petitions
Seeking Indemnification
for Various Sums of Paper
Money Received During the Late War
[Philadelphia, November 17, 1792
Communicated on November 22, 1792]1
The Secretary of the Treasury, to whom were referred the several petitions specified in the list herewith transmitted,2 respectfully submits the following Report thereupon.
These petitions seek indemnifications upon various sums of paper money received from the public, during the late war, by the respective petitioners on account of claims arising upon transactions of that period.
There is no subject, upon which the special interposition of the Legislature, for relief of particular individuals, can be more delicate and dangerous, than that of depreciation. The infinite multitude of cases, in which claims of this nature might, with equal or nearly equal degrees of equity, be supported; the impossibility, from the extraordinary circumstances of the times when those claims originated, of doing general justice, the inextricable confusion, and incalculable expense, of an attempt to redress all the grievances and hardships of that kind, which unavoidably took place, afford considerations of the most powerful nature for leaving every question of depreciation, where the rules and principles of settlement at the Treasury have left it.
If the claim of either of the petitioners is within those rules, and not barred by the Acts of limitation,3 no interposition of the Legislature is necessary. If not within those rules and barred by the Acts of limitation, such an interposition would, in point of precedent, be of the most inconvenient tendency. The magnitude and extreme delicacy of the matter, in question, appear to render it advisable to adhere to the Acts of limitation, as well as the rules of settlement at the Treasury, in this particular, with peculiar caution and strictness.
Such was the policy of the United States in Congress assembled, and a perseverance in that policy is recommended, by a variety of weighty reasons.
The Secretary understands, that an allowance of depreciation, in either of the cases mentioned in the petitions, would be contrary to the rules and principles, which have governed in public settlements.
All which is humbly submitted
Alexander Hamilton
Secry. of the Treasry.
November 1792.
Copy, RG 233, Reports of the Treasury Department, 1792–1793, Vol. III, National Archives; copy, RG 233, Messages from the President, Second Congress, National Archives.
1. , 625–26. The communicating letter, dated November 21, 1792, may be found in RG 233, Reports of the Treasury Department, 1792–1793, Vol. III, National Archives.
2. H accompanied this report with a “List of petitions referred to in the report of the 17th of November 1792,” including the names of ten petitioners.
Thomas Barclay and Jacob Winey petitioned for an allowance of depreciation for payment made by Congress for freight and valuation of two ships chartered during the American Revolution for public service and later captured by the British. Their petitions were read in the House and referred to H on February 12, 1791 (, 376).
The petition of John Nicholason (Nicholson), Indian interpreter and guide, was referred to H on February 17, 1791 (, 381).
On April 16, 1792, the House had referred to H the petition of John Wereat of Georgia for money advanced to American troops during the American Revolution (, 578).
Abraham Van Alstine’s petition concerned the depreciation of money which had been held for public use over a period of years since some time during the American Revolution. The full value of the money when it was received by him was charged against him in the public accounts, although in 1792 the same money still held by him was worthless. The petition was referred to H on June 27, 1790 (, 177, 250).
An earlier petition of Jacob Garrigues, “a former employee in the Quartermaster General Department, for compensation for depreciation notwithstanding the settlement of his account” had been read in Congress on May 11, 1785 (, XXVIII, 350n). No record of a report on this petition has been found. On February 16, 1791, a similar petition of Garrigues was referred to H (, 380).
The petition of Lemuel Cravath of Connecticut was referred to H on April 27, 1790 (, 142, 203).
The petition of John Griffith, Jr., was referred to H on July 30, 1790 (, 285).
The petition of John Spaulding was referred to H on March 19, 1792 (, 539–40).
No reference to the petition of William Browner has been found.
3. The general acts of limitation may be found in , XXIX, 866; XXXIII, 392. See also “Report on Sundry Petitions,” April 16, 1792.