Page:Debates in the Several State Conventions, v5.djvu/89

1783.] 1. "Resolved, That it be recommended to the several states, as indispensably necessary to the restoration of public credit, and the punctual and honorable discharge of the public debts, to vest in the United States, in Congress assembled, a power to levy, for the use of the United States, a duty of five per cent., ad valorem, at the time and place of importation, upon all goods, wares, and merchandises of foreign growth and manufactures, which may be imported into any of the said states from any foreign port, island, or plantation, except arms, ammunition, clothing, and other articles imported on account of the United States, or any of them; and except wool-cards, cotton-cards, and wire for making them; and also except salt during the war.

2. "Also, a like duty of five per cent., ad valorem, on all prizes and prize goods condemned in the Court of Admiralty of these United States as lawful prize.

3. "Also, to levy a duty of one eighth of a dollar per bushel on all salt, imported as aforesaid, after the war; one fifteenth of a dollar per gallon on all wines; one thirtieth of a dollar per gallon on all rum and brandy; two thirds of a dollar per one- hundred and twelve pounds on all brown sugars; one dollar per one hundred and twelve pounds on all powdered, lump, and clayed sugars, other than loaf sugars; one and one third of a dollar per one hundred and twelve pounds on all loaf sugars; one thirtieth of a dollar per pound on all Bohea tea; and one fifteenth of a dollar per pound on all finer India teas, imported as aforesaid, after ——— ———, in addition to the five per cent. above mentioned.

4. "Provided, that none of the said duties shall be applied to any other purpose than the discharge of the interest, or principal, of the debts which shall have been contracted on the faith of the United States for supporting the present war, nor be continued for a longer term than twenty-five years; and provided, that the collectors of the said duties shall be appointed by the states within which their offices are to be respectively exercised; but when so appointed shall be amenable to, and removable by, the United States, in Congress assembled, alone; and, in case any state shall not make such appointment within ——— ———, alter notice given for that purpose, the appointment may then be made by the United States, in Congress assembled.

5. "That it be further recommended to the several states to establish for a like term, not exceeding twenty-five years, and to appropriate to the discharge of the interest and principal of the debts which shall have been contracted on the faith of the United States, for supporting the present war, substantial and effectual revenues, of such a nature as they may respectively judge most convenient, to the amount of ——— ——— ———, and in the proportion following, viz.:

The said revenues to be collected by persons appointed as aforesaid, but to be carried to the separate credit of the states within which they shall be collected, and be liquidated and adjusted among the states according to the quotas which may from time to time be allotted to them.

6. "That an annual account of the proceeds and application of the afore mentioned revenues shall be made out and transmitted to the several states, distinguishing the proceeds of each of the specified articles, and the amount of the whole revenue received from each state.

7. "That none of the preceding resolutions shall take effect until all of them shall be acceded to by every state; after which accession, however, they shall be considered as forming a mutual compact among all the states, and shall be irrevocable by any one or more of them without the concurrence of the whole, or a majority, of the United States in Congress assembled.

8. "That, as a further means, as well of hastening the extinguishment of the debts as of establishing the harmony of the United States, it be recommended to the states which have passed no acts towards complying with the resolutions of Congress of the sixth of September and the tenth of October, 1780, relative to territorial cessions, to make the liberal cessions therein recommended; and to the states which may have passed acts complying with the said resolutions in part only, to revise and complete such compliance.

9. "That, in order to remove all objections against a retrospective application of the constitutional rule of apportioning to the several states the charges and expenses which shall have been supplied for the common defence or general welfare, it be recommended to them to enable Congress to make such equitable exceptions and abatements as the particular circumstances of the states, from time to time, during the war, may be found to require.

10. "That, conformably to the liberal principles on which these recommendations are founded, and with a view to a more amicable and complete adjustment of all accounts between the United States and individual slates, all reasonable expenses which shall have been incurred by the states without the sanction of Congress, in their defence against, or attacks upon, British or savage enemies, either by sea or by land, and which shall be supported by satisfactory proofs shall be considered as part of the common charges incident to the present war, and be allowed as such.

11. "That, as a more convenient and certain rule of ascertaining the proportions to be supplied by the states, respectively, to the common treasury, the following alteration, in the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between these states, be, and the same is hereby, agreed to in Congress; and the several states are advised to authorize their respective delegates to subscribe and ratify the same, as part of the said instrument of union, in the words following, to wit:—

"'So much of the eighth of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the thirteen states of America as is contained in the words following, to wit,—"All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states, in proportion to the value of all land within each state granted to, or surveyed for, any person, as such land, and the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled shall, from time to time, direct and appoint,"—is hereby revoked and made void,