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Document 3948

JAMES MADISON and JAMES MONROE
To help finance the War of 1812, the President appoints a tax collector.
Partly Printed DS: "James Madison" as President and "Jas. Monroe" as Secretary of State, 1p, 15½x9¾. Washington, 1813 December 1. In part: "JAMES MADISON, President of the United States of America, TO ALL WHO SHALL SEE THESE PRESENTS, GREETING: Know Ye, That reposing special trust and confidence in the Integrity, Diligence and discretion of Thomas Smith, of Pennsa I DO APPOINT him PRINCIPAL ASSESSOR under the act, entitled "An act for the assessment and collection of Direct Taxes and Internal duties", passed on the 22d day of July 1813, and the act, entitled, "An act making further provision for the collection of Internal duties, and for the appointment and compensation of Assessors", passed on the 2d day of August, 1813, for the Twelfth district in the state of Pennsylvania...during the pleasure of the President of the United States for the time being, and until the end of the next session of the Senate of the United States, and no longer." On December 12, 1814, President Madison once again appointed Smith to be Principal Assessor, this time with the advice and consent of the Senate, which occurred on December 20th. While the U.S. Constitution empowered Congress "To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States"(Article I, Section 8), the unpopularity of direct taxes, including the tax on spirits which led to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, resulted in the abolition of all excise duties and direct taxes by 1807; America's bills were paid by the tariffs imposed upon imports. Under the financial leadership of Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, the national debt was reduced from $87 million in 1802 to $45 million at the start of 1812, but with the onset of the War of 1812, debt soared, necessitating the raising of additional funds. In March 1812, the first war bonds were issued, and the first interest-bearing treasury notes appeared in June. But, these measures were not enough; by the summer of 1813, as evidenced in this document, it became necessary to once again impose direct taxes on houses, lands and slaves - and to establish a system for collecting these taxes. Although the nation's debt had increased to $127 million by the beginning of January of 1816, continued opposition to the internal collection of taxes resulted in the passage of the Tariff Act of 1816, in which Congress abolished the direct and excise taxes it had imposed during the war. Documents signed by two U.S. Presidents are always desirable. Full 2½-inch white seal affixed with 2½-inch diameter red wax at lower left. Usual irregular edges. Folds, 1 horizontal just underlines Madison's signature. Repaired with tape on verso at 2 cross folds, very slight show through (you have to look for it), else fine, with dark signatures of Madison and Monroe.

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