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STATUTE III.-1799.

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Crimes. Holding Correspondence with a Foreign Government, &c. An act for the punishment of certain crimes therein specified. Jan. 30, 1799..... Commercial Intercourse with France. An act further to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States and France, and the dependencies thereof. (Expired.) Feb. 9, 1799......

Page

613

613

Accounts between the United States and the several States. An act respecting balances reported against certain States, by the commissioners appointed to settle the accounts between the United States and the several States. (Expired.) Feb. 15, 1799........ 616 Reimbursement of Moneys expended abroad for Aid to Seamen. An act to authorize the reimbursement of moneys expended in rendering aid to sick and destitute American seamen in foreign countries. (Obsolete.) Feb. 19, 1799... ... ... ... ....

..... 617 Laws of the United States in the District of Tennessee. An act to amend an act entitled "An act giving effect to the laws of the United States within the District of Tennessee." Feb. 19, 1799......

Expenses of Treaties with the Indians. An act appropriating a certain sum of money to defray the expenses of holding a treaty or treaties with the Indians. (Obsolete.) Feb. 19, 1799...

Pay of Captains and Commanders of Ships and Vessels of War. An act fixing the pay of captains and commanders of ships and vessels of war of the United States. (Obsolete.) Feb. 25, 1799.....

.....

617

618

618

Expenses of Executing Treaties with the Indian Tribes. An act making appropriations for defraying the expenses which may arise in carrying into effect certain treaties between the United States and several tribes or nations of Indians. (Obsolete.) Feb. 25, 1799....... 618 Quarantine and Health Laws. An act respecting quarantine and health laws. Feb. 25, 1799. 619 Augmentation of the Navy. An act for the augmentation of the navy. (Obsolete.) Feb. 25, 1799. 621 Establishment of Docks. An act authorizing the establishment of docks. Feb. 25, 1799.... 622 Purchase of Timber for Naval Purposes. An act authorizing the purchase of timber for naval purposes. Feb. 25, 1799..

Duties on Stamps upon Foreign Bills of Exchange and Bills of Lading. An act to alter the stamp duties imposed upon foreign bills of exchange and bills of lading by an act entitled "An act laying duties on stamped vellum, parchment, and paper;" and further to amend the same. (Repealed.) Feb. 28, 1799......................

622

622

Captured French Citizens. An act concerning French citizens that have been or may be captured and brought into the United States. (Obsolete.) Feb. 28, 1799.......... 624 Compensation for Marshals, Clerks, Attorneys, Jurors, and Witnesses. An act for providing compensation for the marshals, clerks, attorneys, jurors, and witnesses in the Courts of the United States, and to repeal certain parts of the acts therein mentioned; and for other purposes. Feb. 28, 1799..... 624

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Valuation of Lands and Dwelling-houses, and Enumeration of Slaves. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to provide for the valuation of lands and dwelling-houses, and the enumeration of slaves within the United States." (Obsolete.) Feb. 28, 1799...... 626

District Court in Vermont. An act altering the time of holding the District Court in Vermont. (Obsolete.) Feb. 28, 1799.....

627

..... 627

Collection of Duties on Merchandise and Tonnage. An act to regulate the collection of duties on imposts and tonnage. March 2, 1799....... Compensation to Officers employed in the Collection of Duties on Imposts and Tonnage. An act to establish the compensations of the officers employed in the collection of the duties on imposts and tonnage, and for other purposes. March 2, 1799...... Government of the Navy of the United States. An act for the government of the navy of the United States. (Repealed.) March 2, 1799....

704

... 709

Appropriations for the Government of the United States. An act making appropriations for the support of government for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. (Obsolete.) March 2, 1799..

d

717

X

Page

Distillers of Geneva. An act respecting distillers of Geneva. (Repealed.) March 2, 1799. 720
Medical Establishment. An act to regulate the medical establishment. March 2, 1799.... 72
Additional Appropriations for the Government of the United States. An act making additional
appropriations for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. (Obso-
lete.) March 2, 1799...

Public Lands appropriated for Military Services and for the Society of the United Brethren. An
act to amend the act entitled "An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for
military services, and for the Society of the United Brethren, for propagating the
Gospel among the heathen." March 2, 1799..

723

724

Promulgation of the Laws of the United States. An act in addition to an act entitled "An act
for the more general promulgation of the laws of the United States." March 2, 1799. 724
Army of the United States. An act giving eventual authority to the President of the United
States to augment the army. (Repealed.) March 2, 1799...

725

Bail. An act providing for the security of bail in certain cases. March 2, 1799......... 727 Additional Compensation to certain Officers of the Senate and House of Representatives. An act to grant an additional compensation for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine to certain officers of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. (Obsolete.) March 2, 1799....

... 727

Public Lands, Sale of, in the Territory north-west of the Ohio. An act to authorize the sale of certain lands between the Great and Little Miami rivers in the territory of the United States north-west of the Ohio, and for giving a pre-emption to certain purchasers and settlers. March 2, 1799.....

728

Relief of sick and disabled Scamen. An act in addition to "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen." March 2, 1799......

729

729

Marine Corps. An act authorizing an augmentation of the marine corps. March 2, 1799. 729
Augmentation of the Salaries of certain Officers of the Government of the United States. An act to
augment the salaries of the officers therein mentioned. March 2, 1799....
An act to erect a beacon on Boon Island. March 2, 1799..
An act to regulate and fix the compensation of clerks. (Repealed
March 2, 1799.....

Beacon on Boon Island.

..... 730

Compensation of Clerks. and Supplied.) Relief and Protection of Seamen. An act to revive and continue in force certain parts of the "Act for the relief and protection of American seamen," and to amend the same. March 2, 1799..

Appropriations for the Naval Establishment. An act making appropriations for the support of the naval establishment for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. (Obsolete.) March 2, 1799.....

Post-office. An act to establish the post-office of the United States. (Repealed.) March 2, 1799......

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Appropriations for the Army. An act making appropriations for the support of the military establishment for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. (Obsolete.) March 2, 1799.....

Power of Retaliation vested in the President of the United States in certain Cases. An act vesting the power of retaliation in certain cases in the President of the United States. (Obsolete.) March 3, 1799...

Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes, &c. An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers. (Expired.) March 3, 1799.....

Authority to the President to fill Vacancies in the Army and Navy. An act authorizing the President of the United States to fill certain vacancies in the army and navy. (Obsolete.) March 3, 1799....

730

731

732

733

741

743

743

749

Army of the United States. An act for the better organizing of the troops of the United
States, and for other purposes. (Obsolete.) March 3, 1799.

749

Resolution authorizing a subscription to Folwell's edition of the Laws of the United States. 755

TIIE

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

VOL. I.-1.

A

1

July 4, 1776.

July 4, 1776.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States; For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury; For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences; For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We July 4, 1776. have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICĂ, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

JOHN HANCOCK.

New Hampshire.-Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thorn

ton.

Massachusetts Bay.-Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.

Rhode Island, &c.-Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery.

Connecticut. Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott.

New York.-William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris.

New Jersey.-Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark.

Pennsylvania.-Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross.

Delaware.-Cæsar Rodney, George Read, Thomas M'Kean.

Maryland.-Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

Virginia.-George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jun., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.

North Carolina.-William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn.

South Carolina.-Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hayward, Jun., Thomas Lynch, Jun., Arthur Middleton.

Georgia.-Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton.

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