Sold – Hamilton, Treasury Send a Bill to Govern Shipping Between the States of the New Union

From the beginning of British settlement in North America, shipping along the coasts was the principal means of transportation and communication between sections of the colonies. This trade was reserved only for British and American ships. After independence and the formation of the federal Union, this practice was continued, except that clearly the British were no longer granted the right to freely trade along the American coasts.

This was codified into law on August 7, 1789, when “An Act for registering and clearing Vessels, regulating the Coasting Trade, and for other Purposes” was approved by President Washington. This act addressed the documentation of vessels and enumerated the conditions, laws, and penalties by which the business of shipping was to be conducted. Included in this was a prohibitive tax that was placed on foreign built and foreign owned ships, the intent of which was to bolster the American trading industry, build the new nation’s economy, and keep the British from taking too much of the American market. 

In September of that year, an amendment to that bill was passed, stating that anything of foreign manufacture that was unloaded at an American port was to be fully documented and taxed and that no further fee or certificate would be required once unloaded. The amendment also clarified a point from the first act, that ships carrying a smaller amount of cargo – between 5 and 20 tons – were exempt from taxation. It stated that the exemption was only extended to those ships that were carrying American-made products.

On October 3, 1789, President Washington officially notified the governors of all the states of this amendment. That same day, newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton also sent notification of this amendment to the various port collectors, including the collector for Burlington, New Jersey. This Letter Signed is the very letter he sent along with the amendment itself.

It reads, “Inclosed is the Copy of an Act or Amending the ‘Act for Registering and Clearing Vessells Regulating the Coasting trade and for other purposes’  which I transmit you for your Government.” Hamilton has signed and written “Secretary of the Treasury.”