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value £105 15 11|

900

Pine, oak, cedar, boards, feet 6,013,519 | 329,741

486,078 35,922,168

4,800 42,756,306

102 10 0

16,630 0 0f
114 15 11

58,617 15 10

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CHAPTER II.

COMMERCE interrupted during the American revolutionary war-Old Congress no power to regulate commerce, or to levy duties on importsAmount of the public debt in 1783-Requisitions upon the states for the payment of it not complied with-Power to levy certain duties on imports not granted to the old Congress by the states-Depreciation of the public debt-Exports from the United States to Great-Britain, and imports from Great-Britain, from 1784, to 1790-Distressed state of the countryMeeting of Commissioners at Annapolis in 1786—Adoption of the new Constitution, and the organization of the government under it in 1789.

DURING the war of the revolution, the commerce of the United States was interrupted, not only with Great-Britain, but in a great measure with the rest of the world. The people were then compelled, to depend almost entirely upon themselves for supplies, not only of arms and munitions of war, but of those articles of common consumption, which they had previously imported from Great-Britain and elsewhere. Those articles, which their soil would not produce, or which they were unable to make, they were obliged to obtain, at great risque and expense, from other countries, or to be content without them. Encouragement was given to all the necessary manufactures, and the zeal, ingenuity, and industry of the people supplied the place of a foreign market.

At the close of the war, when the United States became an independent nation, their commercial as well as political situation was new, and they had many difficulties to encounter. During a contest of more than seven years, their commerce was annihilated, their shipping nearly destroyed, public credit impaired, a vast debt accumulated upon their hands, and the general government was ill calculated to repair these losses, and to bring into active operation the energies and resources of the nation. The whole expense of the war was more than one hundred and thirty-five millions of dollars.* About one

The whole expense of the revolutionary war cannot be ascertained,

half of this expense was paid by taxes, levied and collected during the war, and the residue remained a debt due from the United States, or from the individual states, on the return of peace. In April, 1783,

with certainty. The following are estimates of this expense, made out by the Register of the Treasury in the year 1790, and furnished a committee of the house of representatives of Congress.

“General abstract of the annual estimates, and abstract statements of the total amount of the expenditures and advances at the Treasury of the United States.

"The estimated amount of the expenditures of 1775 and 1776 is in specie

1777

1778

1779

1780

1781

1782

1783

To Nov. 1st, 1784, as pr. schedule D. and subordinate

Dolls.

90ths.

20,064,666 66

24,986,646 85

24,289,438 26

10,794,620 65

3,000,000 00

1,942,465 30

3,632,745 85

3,226,583 45

548,525 63

accounts,

Forming an amount total of

$92,485,693 15

"The foregoing estimates being confined to actual Treasury payments, are exclusive of the debts of the United States, which were incurred at various periods, for the support of the late war, and should be taken into a general view of the expense thereof, viz. :

Army debt, upon commissioners' certificates,
For supplies furnished by the citizens of the seve-
ral states, and for which certificates were issued
by the commissioners,

For supplies furnished in the quarter-master, com-
missary, hospital, clothing, and marine depart-
ments, exclusive of the foraging,

For supplies, on accounts settled at the Treasury,
and for which certificates were issued by the
Register,

Dolls. 90ths. 11,080,576 1

3,723,625 20

1,159,170, 5

744,638 49

$16,708,009 75

"NOTE. The loan office debt formed a part of the Treasury expendi

tures.

"The foreign expenditures, civil, military, naval,

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