LS signed “A. Hamilton,” one page both sides, 7.5 x 11.75, April 16, 1790. Treasury Department circular letter, in part: "I herewith enclose for you government an act entitled 'An Act to prevent the exportation of goods not duly inspected according to the laws of the several States.' I observe that the 27th and 28th Sections of the Coasting Act have by some of the Officers of the Customs been so construed as to require, that all licensed vessels of the burthen of twenty tons and upwards bound to any port within their respective districts should obtain a permit to land their Cargoes previous to breaking bulk.
Upon due examination I am of opinion, that this is only required by the Law whose Vessels of the above description arrive at the particular port or place where the Collectors or other Officers of the district actually resides; you will therefore govern yourself accordingly. I am sensible that this indulgence is liable to abuses which may prove injurious to the Revenue and must therefore recommend to you as strict an attendance as possible to detect and defeat them." In very good to fine condition, with splitting to the folds, some of which have small old tape reinforcements.
As the nation's first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton enacted economic reforms aimed at promoting American industry. A key plank of his platform was an elaborate system of duties, tariffs, and excise taxes on goods from abroad, designed to make imports more expensive than domestic products. In this interesting circular letter, Hamilton elaborates on his opinion on the interpretation of various clauses of the Coasting Law of 1789 ('Act for Registering and Clearing Vessels, Regulating the Coasting Trade, and for Other Purposes') and forwards a new exportation law passed in the First Congress on April 2, 1790. He also emphasizes the need to be diligent in raising revenue to fund the federal government.
A week later, on April 23, 1790, Hamilton communicated his 'Report on Defects in the Existing Laws of Revenue' to Congress. In the detailed report, he enumerated more than thirty wide-ranging points of weakness—ranging from an inconvenient duty on pickled fish to the organization of the collection system as a whole. In that report, he comments on the emoluments offered to collectors: 'The Secretary considering it as an essential rule, that emoluments of office should not be extended by construction or inference beyond the letter of the provision, lest a door should be opened to improper exactions, has instructed the Officers of the Customs to govern themselves by a literal interpretation of the several clauses of this section; the consequence of which, however, is, that equal services are unequally recompensed.'
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