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and of all claims and demands against the United States of every kind whatsoever, except for interest upon bonds and notes, which shall be paid in coin, and shall also be lawful money and a legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within the United States, except duties on imports and interest as aforesaid. And any holders of said United States notes depositing any sum not less than fifty dollars, or some multiple of fifty dollars, with the Treasurer of the United States, or either of the Assistant Treasurers, shall receive in exchange therefor duplicate certificates of deposit, one of which may be transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall thereupon issue to the holder an equal amount of bonds of the United States, coupon or registered, as may by said holder be desired, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from the date thereof. And such United States notes shall be received the same as coin, at their par value, in payment for any loans that may be hereafter sold or negotiated by the Secretary of the Treasury, and may be re-issued from time to time as the exigencies of the public interests shall require.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to fund the Treasury notes and floating debt of the United States, he is hereby authorized to issue, on the credit of the United States, coupon bonds, or registered bonds, to an amount not exceeding five hundred millions of dollars, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from date, and bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semiannually. And the bonds herein authorized shall be of such denominations, not less than fifty dollars, as may be determined upon by the Secretary of the Treasury. And the Secretary of the Treasury may dispose of such bonds at any time, at the market value thereof, for the coin of the United States, or for any of the Treasury notes that have been or may hereafter be issued under any former act of Congress, or for United States

notes that may be issued under the provisions of this act; and all stocks, bonds, and other securities of the United States held by individuals, corporations, or associations, within the United States, shall be exempt from taxation by or under State authority.

SEC. 3. [Form of treasury notes and coupon or registered bonds; how signed, countersigned, and sealed. Provisions of act of December 23, 1857, revived. Appropriation of $300,000 to carry the act into effect.]

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may receive from any person or persons, or any corporation, United States notes on deposit for not less than thirty days, in sums of not less than one hundred dollars, with any of the Assistant Treasurers or designated depositaries of the United States authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive them, who shall issue therefor certificates of deposit, made in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, and said certificates of deposit shall bear interest at the rate of five per centum per annum; and any amount of United States notes so deposited may be withdrawn from deposit at any time after ten days' notice on the return of said certificates: Provided, That the interest on all such deposits shall cease and determine at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury: And provided further, That the aggregate of such deposit shall at no time exceed the amount of twenty-five millions of dollars.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all duties on imported goods shall be paid in coin, or in notes payable on demand heretofore authorized to be issued and by law receivable in payment of public dues, and the coin so paid shall be set apart as a special fund, and shall be applied as follows:

First. To the payment in coin of the interest on the bonds and notes of the United States.

Second. To the purchase or payment of one per centum of the entire debt of the United States, to be made within each fiscal year after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the

interest of which shall in like manner be applied to the purchase or payment of the public debt as the Secretary of the Treasury shall from time to time direct.

Third. The residue thereof to be paid into the Treasury of the United States.

[Sections 6 and 7 provide for the punishment of counterfeiting or altering treasury notes.]

APPROVED, February 25, 1862.

No. 15.

Act for an Additional Article of War

March 13, 1862

JULY 9, 1861, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 92 to 55, resolved that “it is no part of the duty of the soldiers of the United States to capture and return fugitive slaves." December 23 the House Committee on Military Affairs was instructed to report a bill to make an additional article of war forbidding the use of the United States troops to return fugitives from service or labor. A bill to that effect was reported February 25, and passed, after much obstructive opposition, by a vote of 95 to 51. March 10, in the Senate, an amendment "that this article shall not apply in the States of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, nor elsewhere where the federal authority is recognized or can be enforced," was rejected, and the bill, by a vote of 29 to 9, passed.

REFERENCES.

Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 354. For the debates see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. Various military orders and reports relating to the subject are collected in McPherson, Rebellion, 244 seq.

An Act to make an additional Article of War.

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Be it enacted. That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such :

Article. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped

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any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.

SEC. 2.

APPROVED, March 13, 1862.

No. 16. Act authorizing further Purchase of

Coin

March 17, 1862

THE immediate occasion for so much of the act of March 17 as relates to the purchase of coin was the inability of the treasury to obtain, under existing laws, enough coin to pay the interest on the public debt. The bill, in substance as suggested by the Treasury Department, was introduced in the House, March 6, by Thaddeus Stevens, from the Committee of Ways and Means, and passed the next day. The Senate added the provisions contained in section three of the act, the bill receiving its final form from a conference committee. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 370. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe.

An Act to authorize the Purchase of Coin, and for other Purposes.

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Be it enacted. . That the Secretary of the Treasury may purchase coin with any of the bonds or notes of the United States, authorized by law, at such rates and upon such terms as he may deem most advantageous to the public interest; and may issue, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, certificates of indebtedness, such as are authorized by an act entitled "An act to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue certificates of indebtedness to public creditors," approved March first, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,1 to such

1 The act provided that the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby authorized, to cause to be issued to any public creditor who may be desirous to receive the same, upon requisition of the Head of the proper Department in satis

creditors as may desire to receive the same, in discharge of checks drawn by disbursing officers upon sums placed to their credit on the books of the Treasurer, upon requisitions of the proper departments, as well as in discharge of audited and settled accounts, as provided by said act.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the demand notes authorized by the act of July seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixtyone, and by the act of February twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, shall, in addition to being receivable in payment of duties on imports, be receivable, and shall be lawful money and a legal tender, in like manner, and for the same purposes, and to the same extent, as the notes authorized by an act entitled "An act to authorize the issue of United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof, and for funding the floating debt of the United States," approved February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the limitation upon temporary deposits of United States notes with any assistant treasurers or designated depositaries, authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive such deposits, at five per cent. interest, to twenty-five millions of dollars, shall be so far modified as to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to receive such deposits to an amount not exceeding fifty millions of dollars, and that the rates of interest shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury not exceeding the annual rate of five per centum.

SEC. 4. [The Secretary of the Treasury in reissuing notes may replace mutilated ones.]

APPROVED, March 17, 1862.

faction of audited and settled demands against the United States, certificates for the whole amount due or parts thereof not less than one thousand dollars, signed by the Treasurer of the United States, and countersigned as may be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury; which certificate shall be payable in one year from date or earlier, at the option of the Government, and shall bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum."

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