Report on the Petition of John Lewis, [21 November 1792]
Report on the Petition of John Lewis
[Philadelphia, November 21, 1792 Communicated on November 22, 1792]1
The Secretary of the Treasury, to whom was referred the petition of John Lewis,2 by an Order of the House of Representatives of the 8th of December 1790, thereupon makes the following Report:
The petition seeks to obtain the settlement and payment of a claim, which is barred by the Acts of limitation.3
The Secretary, having in his report of the 16th of April last,4 upon the petitions of several persons, whose claims are in a similar situation, stated the reasons which, in his opinion, operate against the admission of claims so circumstanced, begs leave respectfully to refer the House to that report; there appearing nothing in the present case sufficiently or discriminating to induce a departure from the considerations there suggested.
Which is humbly submitted,
Alexander Hamilton,
Secry. of the Treasry.
November 21st 1792.
Copy, RG 233, Reports of the Treasury Department, 1792–1793, Vol. III, 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. On December 7, 1790, the petition of John Lewis was “presented to the House and read … praying the liquidation and settlement of claims against the United States” (, 330).
On December 8, 1790, the House ordered that the petition “be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House” (, 333).
3. , XXIX, 866; XXXIII, 392. See also “Report on Sundry Petitions,” April 16, 1792.