9,909,978 91 $184,709,336 43 Making 2,405,322 40 14,940,695 79 $11,911,797 57 RICA Political and Mon State. Vaited States, In the thirteenth sitting of congress, first session, Internal in 1813, certain internal duties were laid on, for the taxes in In addition to the above sum of $247,019,302 79 purpose of defraying the expences of the intended war, 1813. Sales of bank stock 2,671,860 136,400 102,423,077 2 although the original plan was to carry on the war by loans only, paying the interest on those loans and the ordinary expences of government. This was to be done by doubling the duties on imports, and imposing a tax on salt; by sales of public land; by direct taxation of $3,000,000; and taxes on stills, spirits, refined sugar, licences to retailers, sales at auction, carriages, and stamp-paper. Of these, the first two quarters produced $2,212,491; and the last two quarters of the same year, only $1,000,000. Congress also imposed other duties on iron, candles, hats, caps, paper, umbrellas, parasols, playing and other cards, saddles, bridles, boots, shoes, beer, ale, porter, tobacco, snuff, and segars, leather, gold and $354,157,487 20 silver plated goods, jewellery, paste-work, household furniture, gold and silver watches. $352,560,193 13 1,597,294 7 $354,157,487 20 $36,595,141 11 The amount paid from the 1st of January In 1815, at the close of the late war with England, almost all those duties were taken off; so that what now remains, are duties on licences for stills and boilers, to retailers; on carriages, refined sugar, sales at auction, stamp-paper, and bank-notes. The direct taxes have hitherto consisted of duties on all lands and lots of ground, with their improvements, dwelling-houses, and slaves, valued by assessors at a certain rate in money. The apportionment of these taxes to the different states, serving to show the relative importance and wealth of each separate state, will be made clear by the following table. In 1798, the $2,000,000 direct tax on dwellinghouses, lands, and slaves, were thus apportioned among $29,503,172 57 the states: Maryland. Virginia. Kentucky... North Carolina. South Carolina. Georgia.. Tennessee $30,430 to $2,500,000; public lands to $1,500,000; bank divi- N. AME- 193,698 112,997 38,815 18,807 $479,293,264 State. United It is asserted, on a comparison of the Treasury States." Reports, from 1790 to 1817, that the grand total of American capital is $7,200,000,000. The banking capital of the United States is more than $100,000,000. In many of the states there are chartered banks, for the credit, discount, and deposit of its citizens. 140,683,984 The bank of the United States has a capital of Bank of the $35,000,000, and the general government is a stock- U. S. $619,977,248 holder in the amount of $7,000,000; five, out of twenty-five directors, are appointed by the government; the remaining twenty being chosen annually by the stockholders. It was first established at Philadelphia, in 1790, and divided a capital of $10,000,000 between 25,000 shares of $400 each; none of the subscribers, except the government, being able to hold more than' 1,000 shares. These shares are transferable, and yield a half-yearly dividend, at about the rate of from 7 to' 8 per cent. per annum. It discounts the merchants' bills, within 65 days, at 6 per cent. and has power to establish branches throughout the Union, which abounds in banking schemes. The slaves enumerated were 393,219. The proportion assessed upon houses was $471,989; on land, $1,327,713; on slaves, $196,610. In some of the states the valuations were not completed until three or four years after the tax was laid; from the date of its imposition to the 30th of September, 1812, a period of fourteen years, only $1,757,240 of this tax were paid into the treasury; and large balances were due at the close of 1817. In the year 1814, the lands and houses of the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, were valued at $559,270,622; in 1799, at $283,651,885; making an increased value, in fifteen years, of $275,918,738, in six states. In Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the increased value of lands, houses, and slaves, between 1799 and 1814, was $365,000,000. In the whole United States, the increased value exceeded $1,000,000,000. The latest average value of land per acre in the different states, taken together, and including erections thereon, is $10; the variations have been thus apportioned: In New Hampshire, $9; Massachusetts, $18; Rhode Island, $ 40; Connecticut, $35; Vermont, $7; New York, $17; New Jersey, $ 35; Pennsylvania, $ 30; Delaware, $13; Maryland, $ 20; Virginia, $5; North Carolina, $3; South Carolina, $8; Georgia, $3; Kentucky, $4; Tennessee, $5; Louisiana, $2; Mississippi, $2; Indiana, $2; Ohio, $6. It appears that there are yet unsold 500,000,000 of acres of public lands lying in the different states, although, from 1796 to the year 1815, $8,437,531 have been received for public lands sold, and nearly $3,000,000 were still due to the treasury on that account. The postage of letters nets to the revenue about $ 100,000. The net amount of revenue received in 1815 was $50,906,106; being from customs, $37,656,486; internal duties, $5,963,225; direct tax, $5,723,152; public lands, $1,287,959; postage, &c. $275,282. On the second of December, 1817, it appears from the president's message, that after satisfying the usual expences of the government at home and abroad, and after extinguishing upwards of $18,000,000 within the year, a balance of more than $6,000,000 remained in the treasury, to be applied to the expences of the ensuing year. For 1818, the estimated receipts from imports and tonnage, amounted to $20,000,000; internal revenues VOL. XVII. It should appear, that the physical and political capacities of the United States balance each other in the happiest manner. They will have full and almost unlimited power of internal increment in wealth; but the moment they attempt to use that power externally, and for the purposes of aggression, it will decay, if not cease altogether. A war of long continuance could not do otherwise than seriously endanger the union of the states, and the entire basis of the federal constitution. The people of the " sea-board" would be impoverished; the agriculturists might, indeed, live on the produce of their own labour, but who is to purchase the overplus of that produce? Certainly not the inhabitants of the coast, for trade, by which they subsist, would be superseded. It must likewise be considered, that a very large proportion of foreigners have hitherto been lenders of the money borrowed by the state, and that the Ame-. rican citizens themselves have subscribed very little to each loan. Of $70,000,000, only $22,330,606 were owed by American citizens in 1803; that although a loan, in 1814, of $25,000,000 was authorized, only $11,400,000 could be obtained, and for that sum the government was obliged to create stock amounting to $14,262,351; a depreciation, too, which happened after a war of only about one year's continuance. Add to this the time and the force necessary to be used in collecting any direct tax, and we may safely dismiss any fears for European safety arising from American domination. EXCHANGE, COINS, &c.-The exchange between Exchange England and the United States is at par when, for every and coins. 100%. sterling, House of Representatives. The eagle, 10 dollars, to contain 2474 grains of pure, or 270 of standard gold: the standard being 22 carats, or fine, 21. 3s. 8d. English. Half-eagles and quarter-eagles, of the same propor tions. Dollars, or units, to contain 3714 grains of pure, or 416 grains of standard silver, the standard being 18 fine, or 10 oz. 14 dwts. 4s. 3d. English. Half-dollars, quarter-dollars, dimes, and half-dimes, of the same proportions. Cents, of the value of one-hundredth of a dollar, to contain 208 grains of copper. Half-cents of the like proportion. L THE NORTHERN, NEW ENGLAND, OR The Legislative power of the United States is vested in a President, a Senate, or Upper House, and a House of Representatives, who, in their united capacity, are termed Congress; their joint acts possessing the force of law. Each particular state is likewise governed according to a similar arrangement, having its council, or senate, its house of representatives, and its governor, or president. The Executive power is entrusted entirely to the president. The House of Representatives for the Union, is chosen every second year, by the people of the several United States, and the qualifications for an elector, in each RICA state, must be, generally, the same as for an elector N. AM of the house of legislation in that state. The representative must be of the full age of twenty-five years, must have been registered a citizen of the United States Polit seven years, and be an inhabitant of the state of which he is chosen a representative at the time of his election. Representation and direct taxation must be apportioned duly amongst the several states according to the number of free persons, excluding Indians not taxed, and three-fifths of all other persons. When vacancies happen in the house of representatives, the state executive issues writs of re-election. This house chooses its own speaker, and it possesses the exclusive power of originating all impeachments. and M The election of each state to this Lower House of Congress varies, in some minor particulars, according to the different laws established in those states. In some, the whole number of members sent is elected by the whole population of the state; other states are divided into election districts. The candidate must, in some states, reside in the district; in others this qualification is not necessary. In Connecticut and Rhode Island the elections are half-yearly. The voting by ballot is a late institution, but perhaps not an improve ment; for not only have the beneficial effects of wealth, superior information, and intellect been annulled, but great complaints have been made of actual fraud; and it is even asserted that ballots of one kind are continually substituted for those of another, in a manner the most scandalous. In the state of Virginia, a certain property in land is required as the necessary qualification for a voter; in others, property, in very small proportions, either real or personal, is the sole requisite; and in some states, again, universal and unqualified suffrage is established to every man who has attained a certain age. In New York, Maryland, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Louisiana, the clergy are disqualified from being candidates for the lower house of congress, as well as for their own separate houses of legislation. Stat The Senate, or Upper House of Congress, is formed by Ser two members from each state, chosen by its legislature for six years. The members are divided into three classes: those who are to vacate their seats at the end of the second year; those who have four years to sit; and those who have six years. In this manner onethird of the whole body is changed every second year. Vacancies are filled up by the executive power, pro tempore, until a new appointment takes place, or until that of the executive is confirmed by the legislature of the state on account of which the vacancy has occurred. Of this Upper House, the Vice-president of the United States is president; but he has no vote in it, unless when the house is equally divided on the question be fore them. The other officers are chosen by the house itself, which also names a president in the occasional absence of the one appointed by the constitution. All impeachments are to be brought before this house to be tried; and each member, when sitting in his judicial capacity, is put to his oath, or (if belonging to the society of friends) to his solemn affirmation. If the impeached person happen to be the president of the United States, the chief justice of the country shall preside, and two-thirds of the members must concur to effect the conviction of the accused. But, on convie ME tion, judgment only extends to removal from the high A office, and to a disqualification for any other office of the state; the convicted person is still left assailable ical by indictments, and punishment in the inferior courts oral of judicature, as far as any crimes may be concerned which are cognizable by those courts, The methods of appointing the senators differ ac cording to the laws, which are called state statutes, In some cases, the lower house of the state nominates to the upper, which, in turn approving, the appointment is made, and called a concurrent vote. Another method is, when both houses meet, and choose jointly, which is called a joint vote; both these methods are practised, as well as that by ballot, and by vote, viva voce, In the concurrent vote, the upper house is equivalent in power to the lower; in the joint vote, the lower house, outnumbering the upper, will, on all divisions, of course carry the question, supposing the members of each to be universally influenced in favour of their own particular opinion. The peculiar functions of the Senate are, besides the exercise of trial by impeachment, to appoint public officers, and to make treaties with foreign powers. No pecuniary qualification is necessary for a senator; although, in many states, the electors, who vote even for inferior officers and members of inferior tribunals, must be so qualified. The reason given for this apparent inconsistency is, that as pecuniary qualifications are required in lower offices, it was supposed unneces, sary to exact them from the candidates for higher places, their existence being necessarily implied, The senators elected for the state of Maryland are elected for five years; for New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, four years; for Ohio two years; and for Delaware and Mississippi three years; the whole body of the United States' senators being elected for six years. Besides this, to ensure a greater permanency in this house, and less dependency on the people, a plan of rotation is es tablished in all the above-mentioned states, excepting Maryland and Kentucky; which rotation again varies according to the particular constitution of each state, It is annual in New York, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana, to the extent of one-fourth of the members; biennial to the extent of one-half in Ohio and South Carolina, In Delaware and Mississippi annual to the extent of one-third. The senators sit in Maryland for five years, and for four in Kentucky, but without rotation. In the Eastern, or New England States, no particular senate exists. In New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Georgia, the senates, or councils, are annual, It is the duty of Congress to assemble once every year: and the 1st day of December is the day fixed for this purpose, unless another be appointed by law, Both the upper and lower houses are judges of the election returns, and the qualifications of their respective members; and the majority of each house is enabled to transact business, whilst a smaller number may ad. journ from day to day, and compel the attendance of the absent members under certain penalties. Each house, too, has certain privileges, which extend to the expulsion of a member by a concurrence of two-thirds of the body. Neither house can adjourn for a longer space than three days without the concurrence of the other; nor can they remove their sittings to any other On the other hand, the disqualification of a member States. of either house is, that he can hold no civil office of Powers of authority under the states, in any way, during his sit. Congress. ting as a member: thus, the cabinet, or acting admi nistration, is totally excluded from a seat in congress. The power of congress consists in imposing taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; in borrowing money, regulat ing commerce, laying down uniform rules for naturalization; coining money; fixing the standard of weights and measures; in establishing post-offices and post-roads; in constituting inferior tribunals; in defining and punishing piracies and felonies on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations; in declaring war, granting letters of marque and reprisal, and making rules concerning captures on land and water; raising armies and supporting them, (but in no appropriation of money for a longer term than two years for these pur poses); in providing and maintaining navies, and in making laws for the regulation of the land and sea forces; in calling forth the militia; in executing the laws of the Union; in suppressing invasion and insurrection: in appointing the officers of the militia; and in training the militia, Congress likewise possesses powers of exclusive legislation in all cases over the district wherein it sits, not extending farther than ten square miles, which, by cession of particular states and the acceptance of con gresa, may have become the seat of government; and over all places purchased by the consent of the state legislature, on which to erect national forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, &c. The permanent seat of government is now by law established at Washington, in the central district of Columbia, upon the river Potomack. The President holds his office for four years, and President. his election, together with that of the Vice-president, who is chosen for the same period, is managed in the following manner :-The legislature of each state ap points as many electors for that particular state as it has senators and representatives in congress, but no public servant of the Union, and no senator or repre. sentative, can be an elector for this high office. These electors again meet and ballot for two persons, one of whom must be an inhabitant of some other state than their own. The names of the persona voted for are transmitted to congress; the president of the upper house opens this list, in the presence of the upper and lower house, and calculates the number of votes: when the person who is found to have the greatest number is appointed president, provided that number constitute a majority of all the electora entitled to vote. If there be more than one having such majority, the house of representatives shall immediately decide by ballet which is to be president. If no person have a majority, he shall be chosen, in like manner, out of the five names highest on the list. But in exercising this right, the votes of the house of representatives shall be taken by states, the representative from each state having one vote. A member or members from RICA. and Moral State. United N. AME two-thirds of the states shall constitute a quorum for Public salaries. Powers It may gratify the reader to see a recent table of the The president of the United States receives a The vice-president The secretary of state The secretary of the treasury, war, and RICA State. who are not particularly otherwise provided for by law. N. AME The judicial power of the United States is vested in Judicial $25,000 5,000 4,000 5,000 3,500 7,000 800 600 1,000 1,000 of The president is commander in chief of the army of the and navy, and of the militia, when called into actual President. service. He has a right of requesting the opinion the executive officers, to be delivered to him in writing, concerning their duties; and has power to pardon and reprieve all criminals, except in cases of impeachment. It is his business to conclude treaties, with the advice and consent of the senate, in which two-thirds of that body must concur; and, with the same advice, he appoints ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other high officers Treason against the states is confined to the fact of levying war against them, and adhering to their enemies by aid or comfort; and confession in open court, or two witnesses to the same overt act, are necessary for conviction of this crime. No attainder of blood takes place for treason, nor even forfeiture of estates, except during the life of the traitor. The perpetration of a crime in one state cannot be punished in another; and sometimes the crossing of a ferry, or the passage over a hill, will secure the offender, however gross his crime, from punishment. There is a provision of the federal state for this contingency, which declares, that a person charged with felony, treason, &c. in any one particular state, and found in another state, shall, on demand, be delivered by the executive of that state, to which he has escaped: but this provision is said to be very insufficiently regarded. |