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State, in which Slavery exists, has, by the Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its abolition in said State, it shall aim to convince all our fellowcitizens, by arguments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that Slaveholding is a heinous crime in the sight of God, and that the duty, safety, and best interests of all concerned, require its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The Society will also endeavor, in a constitutional way, to influence Congress to put an end to the domestic Slave trade, and to abolish Slavery in all those portions of our common country which come under its control, especially in the District of Columbia, — and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any State that may be hereafter admitted to the Union.

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ARTICLE III. This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral, and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, that thus they may, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites, of civil and religious privileges; but this Society will never, in any way, countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by resorting to physical force.

ARTICLE IV. Any person who consents to the principles of this Constitution, who contributes to the funds of this Society, and is not a Slaveholder, may be a member of this Society, and shall be entitled to vote at the meetings.

[The remaining six articles are purely formal.]

No. 94.

Act to Regulate the Deposits

June 23, 1836

In his annual message of Dec. 7, 1835, Jackson announced the extinguishment of the national debt, and renewed the recommendation contained in his annual message of Dec. 2, 1834, that suitable regulation of the public deposits be made. In the Senate, Dec. 29, Calhoun brought in a bill for that purpose, together with a joint resolution "proposing an amendment to the Constitution, providing for a distribution of the surplus revenues among the several States and Territories, until the year 1843." The joint resolution was laid on the table March 4. The bill to regulate the deposits was taken up April

21, and debated at intervals until June 17, when, with an amendment providing for the distribution of the surplus revenue among the States, it passed by a vote of 39 to 6. The House passed the bill on the 21st, by a vote of 155 to 38, with an amendment making the distributed revenue a loan to the States, instead of a gift. In each house attempts to divide the measure were unsuccessful. The Senate concurred in the House amendment, and June 23 the act was approved. A bill for regulating the deposits had been introduced in the House March 21, but repeated efforts to secure its consideration failed. A supplementary act of July authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to make transfers of the public money from the banks of one State to those of another, whenever necessary "to prevent large and inconvenient accumulations in particular places, or in order to produce a due equality and just proportion." Quarterly payments under the act were made in January, April, and July, 1837, to the amount of $28,000,000; after that there was no longer a surplus, and the distribution ceased. The money thus loaned to the States was never recalled.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Stat. at Large, V., 52-56. For the proceedings, see the House and Senate Journals, 24th Cong., 1st Sess.; for the discussions, see Cong. Debates, or Cong. Globe, or Benton's Abridgment, XII. Webster's speech of March 17, on the deposit banks, is in his Works (ed. 1857), IV., 235-237; speech of May 31, on the surplus revenue, ib., IV., 252–264. For Calhoun's speech of May 28, on the regulation of the deposits, see his Works (ed. 1857), II., 534-569. The treatment of the surplus and public deposits was discussed in the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Dec. 6, 1836. Jackson, in his annual message of Dec. 5, criticised the deposit act at length. See further Bourne's History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837.

An Act to regulate the deposites of the public money.

Be it enacted That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to select as soon as may be practicable and employ as the depositories of the money of the United States, such of the banks incorporated by the several States, by Congress for the District of Columbia, or by the Legislative Councils of the respective Territories for those Territories, as may be located at, adjacent or convenient to the points or places at which the revenues may be collected, or disbursed, and in those States, Territories or Districts in which there are no banks, and within which the public collections or disbursements require a depository, the said Secretary may make arrangements with a bank or banks, in some other State, Territory or District, to establish an agency, or agencies, in the States, Territories or Districts so destitute of banks, as banks of deposite; and to receive through such agencies such deposites of the public money, as may be directed to be made at the points

designated, and to make such disbursements as the public service may require at those points; the duties and liabilities of every bank thus establishing any such agency to be the same in respect to its agency, as are the duties and liabilities of deposit banks generally under the provisions of this act: Provided, That at least one such bank shall be selected in each State and Territory, if any can be found in each State and Territory willing to be employed as depositories of the public money, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter prescribed, and continue to conform thereto; and that the Secretary of the Treasury shall not suffer to remain in any deposite bank, an amount of the public moneys more than equal to three-fourths of the amount of its capital stock actually paid in, for a longer time than may be necessary to enable him to make the transfers required by the twelfth section of this act; and that the banks so selected, shall be, in his opinion, safe depositories of the public money, and shall be willing to undertake to do and perform the several duties and services, and to conform to the several conditions prescribed by this act.

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SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the said banks, before they shall be employed as the depositories of the public money, shall agree to receive the same, upon the following terms and conditions, to wit:

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First. Each bank shall furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time, as often as he may require, not exceeding once a week, statements setting forth its condition and business And the said banks shall furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the Treasurer of the United States, a weekly statement of the condition of his account upon their books. And the Secretary of the Treasury shall have the right, by himself, or an agent appointed for that purpose, to inspect such general accounts in the books of the bank, as shall relate to the said statements: Provided, That this shall not be construed to imply a right of inspecting the account of any private individual or individuals with the bank.

Secondly. To credit as specie, all sums deposited therein to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, and to pay all checks, warrants, or drafts, drawn on such deposites, in specie if required by the holder thereof.

Thirdly. To give, whenever required by the Secretary of the

Treasury, the necessary facilities for transferring the public funds from place to place, within the United States, and the Territories thereof, and for distributing the same in payment of the public creditors, without charging commissions or claiming allowance on account of difference of exchange.

Fourthly. To render to the Government of the United States all the duties and services heretofore required by law to be performed by the late Bank of the United States and its several branches or offices.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That no bank shall be selected or continued as a place of deposite of the public money which shall not redeem its notes and bills on demand in specie.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the money which shall be in the Treasury of the United States, on . . . [January 1, 1837], . . ., reserving the sum of five millions of dollars, shall be deposited with such of the several States, in proportion to their respective representation in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, as shall, by law, authorize their Treasurers, or other competent authorities to receive the same on the terms hereinafter specified; . . . which certificates shall express the usual and legal obligations, and pledge the faith of the State, for the safe keeping and repayment thereof, and shall pledge the faith of the States receiving the same, to pay the said moneys, and every part thereof, from time to time, whenever the same shall be required, by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of defraying any wants of the public treasury, beyond the amount of the five millions aforesaid: provided. ., That when said money, or any part thereof, shall be wanted by the said Secretary, to meet appropriations by law, the same shall be called for, in rateable proportions, within one year, as nearly as conveniently may be, from the different States, with which the same is deposited, and shall not be called for, in sums exceeding ten thousand dollars, from any one State, in any one month, without previous notice of thirty days, for every additional sum of twenty thousand dollars, which may at any time be required.

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SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the said deposites shall be made with the said States in the following proportions, and at

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[January 1,

the following times, to wit: one quarter part on 1837], . . . or as soon thereafter as may be; one quarter part on the first day of April, one quarter part on the first day of July, and one quarter part on the first day of October, all in the same year.

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ONE effect of the speculative fever which began early in 1835 was an enormous increase in the sales of the public lands. By law, payments for lands could be made only in gold and silver, or in notes of specie paying banks; but a large part of the payments was in fact made in State bank notes, which in the West had largely driven specie out of circulation. The United States thus found that the public domain was being disposed of for a currency of doubtful or more than doubtful value. The subject of the coinage had been before Congress since 1834, and Jackson had declared himself in favor of gold and silver as the "true constitutional currency." April 23, 1836, Benton moved that thereafter "nothing but gold and silver coin ought to be received in payment for public lands." The motion was tabled, and the session ended without action. July 11, by direction of the President, the socalled specie circular was issued. An inquiry into the effect of the circular was moved by Benton Jan. 12, 1837, and a bill "designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of the United States" passed the Senate Feb. 10, by a vote of 41 to 5, and the House March 1, without a division, but was vetoed by the President. By a joint resolution approved May 21, 1838, it was declared unlawful for the Secretary of the Treasury "to make or to continue in force, any general order, which shall create any difference between the different branches of revenue, as to the money or medium of payment, in which debts or dues, accruing to the United States, may be paid."

REFERENCES. - Text in Senate Doc. 2, 24th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 96. The reasons for the circular were discussed by Jackson in his annual message of Dec. 5, 1836. Wright's report of May 16, 1838, is Senate Doc. 445, 25th Cong., 2d Sess. Webster's speech of April 23, 1836, on Benton's motion, is in his Works (ed. 1857), IV., 238-246; for his speech of Dec. 21 on the circular, ib., IV., 265-291. See also Benton's Thirty Years' View, I., chaps. 146, 156. Jackson's statement of reasons for not signing the bill of 1837, with an accompanying opinion of the Attorney-General, is in Niles's Register, LII., 26, 27.

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