D. 45,154,489; the payments in redemption, from April, 1801, to this date, being D. 46,022,810. The sums received from 1801 to 1811, inclusive, applicable to the payment of the interest and principal of the debt, was about D. 90,000,000. In March, 1812, on the prospect of a war with England, (which was declared in June following,) congress passed an act, authorizing a loan of D. 11,000,000, of which were obtained D. 10,184,700; certain banks lending D. 2,150,000, and the residue being funded. About half of this residue was obtained from banks, the rest from individuals. In 1813, the sinking fund redeemed D. 324,200 of this stock. On the 8th of January, 1813, an act passed for raising a loan of D. 16,000,000, which was obtained chiefly from individuals, at the rate of eighty-eight for D. 100; consequently the stock issued for this loan amounted to D. 18,109,377. By an act of August 2, in the same year, a further loan of D. 7,500,000 was authorized, which was raised by giving for every D. 100 received, stock to the amount of D. 113%, at six per cent.: the stock issued on this loan was D. 8,498,583. In March, 1814, a loan of D. 25,000,000 was authorized; but only D. 11,400,000 could be raised, for which D. 14,262,351 of stock was issued. The terms of these loans were so extremely disadvantageous to government, and proved its want of credit to such a degree, that stocks fell thirty per cent. No more of the last loan could be raised, and treasury notes were issued to make up the deficiency. On all these loans, the money received by government was only D. 42,934,700, for which D. 48,905,012 stock was issued: making a difference of D. 5,970,312 against the treasury. In addition to this, New York and Philadelphia had lent money to government, for which D. 1,100,009 of stock was issued, making the whole stock funded on these loans to be D. 50,105,022. Treasury notes were issued to the amount of D. 18,452,800. The ascertained debt incurred by the late war, in February, 1815, was D. 68,783,622, to which add the old debt of D. 39,905,183, and the total is D. 108,688,805, to which must be added out-standing debts to the amount of D. 13,000,000, and the total debt will be D. 121,688,805. On the 24th of February, 1815, the issue of D. 25,000,000 of treasury notes was authorized; and on the 3d of March following, a loan of D. 18,452,800 was ordered to be made in the treasury notes previously issued. The sinking-fund, as has been already noticed, consists of an annual appropriation of D. 8,000,000, arising from 122 the interest of the debt redeemed, which in 1813 amounted to D. 1,932,107; from the sale of public lands, and from the duties on imports and tonnage. This fund, on the 1st of January, 1814, had redeemed of the național debt D. 33,873,463. In March, 1817, the sinking-fund income was raised to D. 10,000,000, The revenues of the United States, previous to the late war with England, were derived from duties and taxes on imports, tonnage of ships and vessels, stills, and spirits distilled within the Union, postage, tax on patents, dividends on bank stock, snuff manufactured in the United States, sugar refined there, sales at auction, wine and spirit licences, carriages, stamped paper, direct taxes, and Intersales of public lands; but the chief part of the revenue has been derived from duties on imports and tonnage. nal taxes were laid at different periods by the Washington administration, but were all discontinued by an act passed in April, 1803, under auspices of Mr. Jefferson; and have been finally repealed during the last session of con gress. The amount of the actual receipts from the customs, from the 4th of March, 1789, the commencement of the government, to the 30th of June, 1816, was, In 1791...........D.4,399,472 In 1804.........D.11,098,565 .12,936,487 ...14,667,698 ...15,845,521 ...16,363,550 7,296,020 1810............ 8,583,309 1792.... 3,443,070 1793........ 4,255,306 1794............ 4,801,065 1805 .... 1795.... 5,588,461 1808.... 1796. 6,567,987 1809... 1797....... 7,549,649 1798...... 7,106,061 1799...... 6,610,449 1812.... 1800........ 9,080,932 1813..... .13,224,623 1801... .10,750,778 1814.... .... 5,998,772 1802. ...12,438,235 1815....... 7,282,942 1803... ..10,479,417 1811............13,313,222 8,958,777 100 職 From the 1st of January to the 30th of June, 1816, The report of the secretary of the treasury for the year 1816, states, that on the 12th of February, of that year, the whole of the public debt, funded and floating, was D. 123,630,692; but on the 1st of January, 1817, did not exceed D. 109,748,272; reducing the debt, in one year, D. 13,882,420. The duties remained nearly the same from 1802 to 1812, when 100 per cent was added to all the permanent duties, which was to continue during the war against England, and one year afterwards. It has been already stated, that duties had been laid upon American spirits and stills; and that other internal taxes had been also imposed, all of which were discontinued. The sums paid on these internal taxes, from their commencement in 1790 to September, 1812, was D. 6,460,003, of which D.1,048,033 were paid in 1801; and in 1812, only D. 4,903. Although these internal duties were repealed in 1802, their collection has never yet been completed. At the commencement of the year 1812, the balances due on the internal revenue, in the several states, amounted to D. 254,940. In the summer of 1813, an act was passed for renewing the internal duties, by taxes on stills and boilers, carriages, retailers of foreign merchandise, wines and spirits, auctions, refined sugar, and stamped paper. These duties were double their former amount on most of the articles, and three times that rate on retail licences. The original plan of government was, to carry on the war by loans, after the English practice, and to lay on no more taxes than would just defray the current expenses of the state, pay the interest of the public debt, and of new loans, amounting to about D. 9,000,000. This was to be raised by doubling the duties on imports, and laying twenty cents a bushel on salt; by sales of public lands; by a direct tax of D.3,000,000; and D. 2,000,000 by a tax on stills, spirits, refined sugar, retail licences, auctions, carriages, and stamped paper. These taxes commenced on the 1st of January, 1814, and the sum raised by them in the course of that year, amounted to D. 3,212,491. In September of the same year, additional duties were laid on spirits, retail licences, carriages, auctions, and stamped paper. During the same session, taxes were also imposed upon the following articles, being manufactures of the United States, viz. Iron, candles, hats and caps, paper, umbrellas, and parasols, plain and playing cards, saddlery, boots and shoes, malt liquors, tobacco and snuff, leather, gold and silver plated ware, jewellery, household furniture, and gold and silver watches. The whole amount of the internal taxes paid into the treasury in 1814, after deducting for duties remitted, and expense of collection, was no more than....... D. 1,762,003 The amount paid into the treasury in 1815, after the usual deductions, was.. 4,697,252 The amount paid from the 1st of January to the 30th of June, 1816, was.......... .D. 3,241,427 Shortly after peace was signed, in 1815, the following duties were repealed, viz. those on watches, household furniture, home-made spirits, and the additional duties on postage and retail licences. At the beginning of the year 1817, the internal duties remaining were, on stills and boil. ers, retail licences, on carriages, refined sugar, auctions, stamped paper, and bank notes; but in December of that year, the congress passed a law repealing the whole of these duties, so that at present the United States have no internal taxes. The policy of this measure, however, has been much controverted by several able writers; as being con. trary to the practice of all nations, and in direct opposition to the best principles of political economy. In July, 1798, the first direct tax, amounting to D. 2,000,000, was laid upon the people of the United States; and apportioned in manner following, viz.›. This tax was laid upon all dwelling-houses, lands, and slaves, between twelve and fifty years of age, within the United States. The number of acres valued under the above act, was 163,746,688, valued at............ .............D. 479,293,264 Number of dwelling-houses, above 100,276,695, valued at.... Total lands and houses............ 140,683,984 .D. 619,977,248. The slaves enumerated were 393,219. The proportion of the tax assessed upon houses was D. 471,989; on land, D. 1,327,713; on slaves, D. 196,610. In some of the states the valuations were not completed until three or four years after the tax was laid; and from the date of its imposition to the 30th of September, 1812, a period of fourteen years, only D. 1,757,240 of this tax was paid into the treasury; and large balances remained due at the end of 1817.-A second direct tax was laid on in August, 1813, to the; amount of D. 3,000,000, and apportioned among the dif This division of the tax shows, that for the fourteen years preceding 1813, the states of New York, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, had made the most rapid progress in population; and that the New England states, particularly Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, had augmented their numbers very slowly. Delaware remained nearly stationary; the population of the remainder, especially Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, is upon the increase. The tax was laid on the value of all lands and lots of ground, with their improvements, dwelling-houses, and slaves; all of which articles were to be valued by the assessors at the rate each of them were worth in money. In the year 1814, it appeared, that the increased value of land, houses, and slaves, for the preceding fifteen years, amounted to more than D. 1,000,000,000. The aggregate valuation of houses, lands, and slaves, in the United States, under these acts, in 1815, exceeded D. 2,000,000,000; of which the slaves made D. 400,000,000, and the lands and houses more than D. 1,600,000,000. The average value of land per acre, including the buildings thereon, throughout the United States, is ten dollars. In particular states it varies; as for example, in New Hampshire, D.9; Massachusetts, D. 18; Rhode Island, D. 40; Connecticut, D. 35; Vermont, D. 7; New York, D. 17; New Jersey, D. 35; Pennsylvania, D. 30; Delaware, D. 13; Maryland, D. 20; Virginia, D.5; North Carolina, D.3; South Carolina, D. 8; Georgia, D.3; Kentucky, D. 4; Tennessee, D. 5; Louisiana, D. 2; Mississippi, D. 2; Indiana, D. 2; Ohio, D. 6. On the 9th of January, 1815, an annual direct tax to the amount of D. 6,000,000, was laid on, to be assessed in the same manner as that passed in the year 1813; but on the 5th of March, 1816, it was again reduced to D. 3,000,000. |