(ACT of February 27th, 1813.) sury, or in the hands of the treasurer as agent of the war and navy departments, from the appropriations of former years, estimating the amount of those sums which will not be required to defray expenses incurred in a previous year, and showing the whole amount which will be subject to the disposition of the executive government in the year to which the estimates apply. ACT of May 15, 1820. Pamphlet edit. 109. An act providing for the better organization of the treasury department. [See title ACCOUNTS, 35, ante, page 10. An agent to be appointed, VACCINATION. 1| Letters, &c. to be franked, ACT of February 27, 1813. 4 Bioren, 508. An act to encourage vaccination. 2 1. SEC. I. The president of the United States is hereby authorised to appoint an agent to preserve the genuine vaccine matter, and to furnish the same to any citizen of the United States, whenever it may be applied for, through the medium of the post office, and such agent shall, previous to his entering upon the execution of the duties assigned to him by this act, and before he shall be entitled to the privilege of franking any letter or package as herein allowed, take or subscribe the following oath or affirmation, before some magistrate, and cause a certificate thereof to be filed in the general post office: " I, A B, do swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will faithfully use my best exertions to preserve the genuine vaccine matter, and to furnish the same to the citizens of the United States, and also, that I will abstain from every thing prohibited in relation to the establishment of the post office of the United States." And it shall be the duty of the said agent to transmit to the several post masters in the United States, a copy of this act: and he shall also forward to them a public notice, directing how and where all applications shall be made to him for vaccine matter. 2. SEC. II. All letters or packages, not exceeding half an ounce in weight, containing vaccine matter, or relating to the subject of vaccination, and that alone, shall be carried by the United States' mail free of any postage, either to or from the agent, who may be appointed to carry the provisions of this act into effect: Provided always, That the said agent, before he delivers any letters for transmission by the mail, shall, in his own proper hand writing on the outside thereof, endorse the word "Vaccination," and thereto subscribe his name, and shall previously furnish the postmaster of the office where he shall deposit the same with a specimen of his signature; and if said agent shall frank any letter or package, in which shall be contained any thing relative to any subject other than vaccination, he shall, on conviction of every such offence for (ACT of April 20th, 1818.) feit and pay a fine of fifty dollars, to be recovered in the same manner as other fines or violations of law, establishing the post office: Provided also, That the discharge of any agent, and the appointment of another in his stead, be at the discretion of the president of the United States. VERMONT. ACT of February 18, 1791. 2 Bioren, 103. An act for the admission of the state of Vermont into this Union. The state of Vermont having petitioned the congress to be admitted a member of the United States, Be it enacted, &c. That on the fourth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, the said state, by the name and style of " the state of Vermont," shall be received and admitted into this Union, as a new and entire member of the United States of America. Town lots to be sold, VINCENNES. 1 Also the common, 2 ACT of April 20, 1818. Pamphlet edit. 167. 1. SEC. I. The trustees of the town of Vincennes shall have power, and they are hereby authorised to examine and adjust all claims to lots in the town of Vincennes: and if, upon an accurate survey, it shall be found that there are lots within the precincts of the town to which no individual claims can be substantiated, the same are hereby granted to the inhabitants thereof, to be sold by the trustees, and the money arising from the sale to be applied to such public purposes as may be agreed upon by a majority of the citizens. And the said trustees are hereby empowered, in all cases when they shall confirm claims to lots, to give deeds to the claimants for the same. 2. SEC. 11. The trustees of the town of Vincennes shall have power, and they are hereby authorized, to dispose of a tract of land containing about five thousand four hundred acres, which by the fifth section of the act, entitled " An act for granting lands to the inhabitants and settlers of Vincennes and the Illinois county, in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and for confirming them in their possessions," passed on the third of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one was appropriated as a common, to the use of the inhabitants of the said town, the said tract shall be divided into lots, as the trustees shall direct, of not more than fifty, nor less than the quantity of five acres, and shall be sold in the manner, and on the terms, which may by them be deemed most (ACT of August 7th, 1789.) expedient and advantageous. They shall also have power to convey, by complete title, the lots sold to the purchasers; and the proceeds of the lands so disposed of, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purpose, shall be applied, under the direction of the said trustees, to the draining of a pond in the vicinity of the town; and the residue of the money arising from the said sales, if any there be, shall be paid over to the trustees of the Vincennes university, and shall, by them, be applied to the benefit of the said university. SEC. III. The said trustees, when they shall have performed the duties assigned to them under this act, shall make a report thereof to congress. VOLUNTEERS. ACT of April 20, 1818. Pamphlet edit. 130. Every officer, noncommissioned officer, or private who served in any volunteer corps of cavalry during the late war, and furnished his own horse or horses while in the public service aforesaid, shall be allowed at the rate of forty cents per day for each horse so furnished, which such officer, noncommissioned officer or private was entitled by law to keep in such service. And when any officer, noncommissioned officer or private, in the cavalry service aforesaid, having lost the horse or horses which may have been taken by him into the said service, and having received from the United States another horse or horses in lieu or in part payment for the horse or horses so previously lost as aforesaid, such officer, noncommissioned officer, or private, shall be entitled to receive the allowance of forty cents per day, for the use and risk of the horse on which he may so have been remounted. [See titles, ACCOUNTS, 13, 15, 19, 23, 25. CLERKS, 4, 11, SALARIES, 4, 12, 14, STATE Department, 9, TREASURY Department, 9, 15, 19, 20, 21. ACT of August 7, 1789. 2 Bioren, 32. An act to establish an executive department, to be denominated the Department of War. 1. SEC. I There shall be an executive department, to be denominated the department of war; and there shall be a principal of (ACT of August 7th, 1789.) ficer therein, to be called the secretary for the department of war, who shall perform and execute such duties as shall, from time to time, be enjoined on, or entrusted to him, by the president of the United States, agreeably to the constitution, relative to military commissiors, or to the land or naval forces, ships, or warlike stores, of the United States, or to such other matters respecting military or naval affairs, as the president of the United States shall assign to the said department, or relative to the granting of lands to persons entitled thereto, for military services rendered to the United States, or relative to Indian affairs: And furthermore, the said principal officer shall conduct the business of the said department, in such manner as the president of the United States shall, from time to time, order or instruct. [The parts of this sec. in italics, are repealed by the act of April 30, 1798, see title NAVY, 1, ante, page 620.] 2. SEC. II. There shall be in the said department, an inferior officer, to be appointed by the said principal officer, to be employed therein as he shall deem proper, and to be called the chief clerk in the department of war, and who, whenever the said principal officer shall be removed from office by the president of the United States, or in any other case of vacancy, shall, during such vacancy, have the charge and custody of all records, books, and papers, appertaining to the said department. 3. SEC. III. The said principal officer, and every other person to be appointed or employed in the said department, shall, before he enters on the execution of his office or employment, take an oath or affirmation well and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him. 4. SEC. IV. The secretary for the department of war, to be appointed in consequence of this act, shall, forthwith after his appointment, be entitled to have the custody and charge of all records, books, and papers, in the office of secretary for the department of war, heretofore established by the United States in congress assembled. APPENDIX. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates both of resident and nonresident proprietors in the said territory, dying intestate, shall descend to, and be distributed among their children, and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts; the descendants of a deceased child or grand child to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them: and where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin, in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parents' share; and there shall, in no case, be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood; saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate, her third part of the real estate for life, and one third part of the personal estate: and this law relative to descents and dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as herein after No. I. Resolution of December 14th, 1819, declaring the admission of the State of Alabama into the Union. WHEREAS, in pursuance of an act of Congress, passed on the second day of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, entitled "An act to enable the people of the Alabama Territory to form a constitution and state government, aad for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states," the people of the said territory did, on the second day of August, in the present year, by a Convention called for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and state government, which constitution and state government, so formed, is republican, and in conformity to the principles of the articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the territory northwest of the river Ohio, passed on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, so far as the same have been extended to the said territory by the articles of agreement between the United States and the state of Georgia Resolved, That the state of Alabama shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever. No. II. ORDINANCE FOR 1787. For the government of the territory of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio. Be it ordained by the United States in congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district; subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of congress, make it expe dient. mentioned, estates in the said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her, in whom the estate may be, (being of full age,) and attested by three witnesses; and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or or bargain ba and sale, signed, sealed, and delivered, by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates, courts, and registers, shall be appointed for that purpose; and personal property may be transferred by delivery; saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, Saint Vincents, and the neighbouring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property. |