Jefferson, Thomas

One page (9 1/2 x 7 5/8 in.; 241 x 193 mm), signed “Th: Jefferson” as Secretary of State, addressed to the John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts; formerly folded, left edge chip repaired. 

"Sir
I have the honor to send you herein enclosed, a collection of the Acts passed at the third Session of the Congress of the United States of America, and of being with sentiments of the most perfect respect.
Your Excellency’s Most obedient and Most humble Servant Th: Jefferson
His Excellency The Governor of Massachusetts"

The first federal Congress was charged with the important task of making the government codified by the Constitution a reality. The legislation originally transmitted with this document was passed during the third session of the first Congress (December 6, 1790 - March 3, 1791) and included acts establishing the Bank of the United States, and dealing with the admission of the first new states, Kentucky and Vermont, revenue measures including the infamous Whiskey Tax, the establishment of the Treasury Department, the federal budget ($1,526,700.20), salaries for government officials, formally establishing the new federal capital on the Potomac, and ironically, setting a duty of tea. The first two sessions of Congress met in New York City, and the third, the subject of this document, met in Philadelphia.

The third session strengthened the federal government by establishing the Bank of the United States (which would last for twenty years). The bank issued a circulating currency up to the amount of its capital, $10,000,000. The bank acted as a guiding influence on notes issued by state banks by refusing to accept state bank notes that were not redeemable in hard currency.

Congress passed the bill establishing the permanent location for the seat of government, enacting the compromise brokered by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in the pervious session: Many states still carried large debts incurred from the American Revolution. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton proposed that the federal government take over these debts in order to bolster the credit of the new national government, assuming this strategy would convince creditors holding state securities to look to the federal government for their payment. Many Southern states opposed this law because they resented paying the debt burden of more populous Northern states. Meanwhile, a controversy also raged over the site for the new federal capital. Northern states preferred the vicinity of New York or Philadelphia, while Southerners favored the Potomac River in Virginia. Jefferson and Hamilton brokered a compromise, trading Southern support in favor of the Assumption Act in exchange for Northern support of the plan to place the nation’s capital on the Potomac River, (where it moved, in 1800).

The assumption of state debts forced the federal government to find new ways to raise revenue. In response, the third session of the first Congress passed one of the most controversial tax measures in America since the Revolution. The Whiskey tax imposed duties not only on imported Spirits, but also on those produced in the United States. Passage of the act immediately stirred resentments from western residents who depended on whiskey for income. Without the ability to transport their goods down the Mississippi to New Orleans (the port had been closed to Americans by the Spanish), Whiskey provided the most efficient means to process their crops into an easily transportable commodity. Western morale was already low due to land speculation, arduous militia duty, the scarcity of hard currency, and resentment of the salaried official class needed to collect the revenue. The Whisky tax made matters worse. The act was formally opposed by the states of Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia who all had large western constituencies. Disturbances finally broke out in 1794 in western Pennsylvania. Washington called out 12,000 troops but there was no significant violence and the rebels soon dispersed. The defeat of the rebellion strengthened the political power of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists and also encouraged more investment in south-western Pennsylvania.