Alexander Hamilton Papers

Report on Several Petitions, [20 November 1792]

Report on Several Petitions

[Philadelphia, November 20, 1792
Communicated on November 22, 1792]1

[To the Speaker of the House of Representatives]

The Secretary of the Treasury, to whom were referred the several petitions specified in the list herewith transmitted,2 respectfully reports thereupon.

That the objects of the said several petitions have either been subsequently considered and decided upon, by the legislature, or have been comprised in general reports heretofore submitted, whereby a special report thereupon is rendered unnecessary.

Which is humbly submitted,

Alexander Hamilton,
Secry. of the Treasry.

Copy, RG 233, Reports of the Treasury Department, 1792–1793, Vol. III, National Archives.

1Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 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.

2H accompanied this report with a “List of petitions referred to in the report of the 20th of November 1792,” which included the names of thirteen petitioners.

James Hubbs petitioned against an action which the United States had brought against him for an infraction of the revenue laws on the grounds that “at the time of committing the offence, he was wholly ignorant” of the Collection Law. Hubb’s petition was read in the House of Representatives and referred to H on January 18, 1790 (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 142). Subsequent consideration of the general problem raised by this petition resulted in “An Act to provide for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures and penalties accruing under the revenue laws, m certain cases therein mentioned” (1 Stat. description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston, 1845). description ends 122–23 [May 26, 1790]).

Several of the petitions which H returned to the House of Representatives at this time had been received before revised revenue legislation had been enacted. Included in this group of petitions were: the petition of merchants and other inhabitants of Portland in the District of Maine, which had been referred to H on January 29, 1790 (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 147, 149); the petition of sundry inhabitants of Salem, Massachusetts, which had been referred to H on February 9, 1790 (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 154); and the “memorial of sundry merchants and traders, of the town of Newburyport,” Massachusetts, which had been referred to H on April 9, 1790 (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 191). See also “Report on Defects in the Existing Laws of Revenue,” April 22, 1790.

H also returned “A petition of Isaac Osgood and Sons … praying that Congress would grant a sum of money, loan, bounty, or other encouragement, to the manufacture of malt-liquors in the United States” (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 343). The subject of this petition, which was referred to H on December 27, 1790, was considered in H’s “Report on the Subject of Manufactures,” December 5, 1791.

H also returned four petitions concerning increased compensation for revenue officers, a subject which he had discussed in his “Report on Compensation of Officers Employed in the Collection of the Revenue,” April 5, 1792. Three petitions of inspectors of customs from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore had been referred to H during January and February, 1791 (Journal of the House, I, 352, 357, 363, 366, 376). H returned a similar petition from Joseph Whipple, the collector of customs at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which had been referred to him on February 27, 1792 (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 521).

On October 27, 1791, the House referred to H a “petition of sundry persons residing in the Western Territory … between Fort Washington and the Little Miami” (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 441). The Miami Purchase was affected by two acts subsequent to the receipt of this petition: “An Act for ascertaining the Bounds of a Tract of Land purchased by John Cleves Symmes” (1 Stat. description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston, 1845). description ends 251–52 [April 12, 1792]) and “An Act authorizing the grant and conveyance of certain Lands to John Cleves Symmes, and his Associates” (1 Stat. description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston, 1845). description ends 266–67 [May 5, 1792]).

On December 20, 1791, the House referred to H “A petition of Jabez Bowen, Commissioner of Loans in the State of Rhode Island,… praying to be allowed the expense of stationery and clerk hire until the first day of October next” (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 478). See “An Act for making compensations to the Commissioners of Loans for extraordinary expenses” (1 Stat. description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston, 1845). description ends 284 [May 8, 1792]).

On February 25, 1791, the House of Representatives referred to H a “petition of Brown and Francis praying to be reimbursed the amount of the second duty paid by the petitioners on sundry goods of foreign manufacture, which were exported by them from the United States, and afterwards imported into the same” (Journal of the House, I description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (Washington, 1826), I. description ends , 391). See also Jeremiah Olney to H, October 22, 1790.

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