| 1780.
CHAP.
V. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
public affairs, were of opinion, that it was expedient to adopt the
said recommendation,
and to comply with and carry the same into execution as far as possible,
but that it was impracticable to call in, by taxes, within the said time
limited,
the sum required by congress, and to make provision, by taxes, for prosecuting
the war; and therefore, to induce the possessors of the said bills voluntarily
to
bring in and exchange the same for the new bills, by an act passed last
June session,
did propose and offer to give the holders of the said bills the six tenths
of the
new bills, by the said resolve and plan of congress intended to be reserved
for the
use of this state: And whereas the holders of the said bills have
not hitherto accepted
the above offer of the general assembly, and there has been only the sum
of one hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred and fifty-six dollars and
sixty
ninetieths brought in and exchanged agreeable to the said proposal of the
general
assembly: And whereas congress, by their resolve of the twenty-sixth
day of August
last, did earnestly recommend to the several states to take the most speedy
and effectual measures in their power for drawing in their respective quotas
of the
continental bills of credit, to be destroyed, either by tax to be collected
immediately,
or by exchanging for them new bills, to be emitted pursuant to the act
of
the tenth day of March last, at a rate not less than forty of the former
for one of
the latter, so that the whole of the said new bills may be issued:
And whereas
considerable sums of money were emitted by acts of assembly under the
old government,
and by resolves of conventions, and the present general assembly are of
opinion,
that it is expedient and necessary, from the extreme exigency of public
affairs,
and the great depreciation of the aforesaid bills of credit, and to support
the
value of the new bills, and to place our finances on a certain and permanent
footing,
and to enable the state to provide her proportion of men, money, provisions,
and other supplies, for prosecuting the present just and necessary war,
to call in
by exchange, in as short a time as possible, the quota required by congress
of this
state of the bills of credit issued by congress, and the bills of credit
emitted by
acts of assembly under the old government, and by resolves of the conventions,
and are of opinion, that the exchange should be established at the rate
of one dollar
of the new bills for every forty dollars of the old bills brought in to
the commissioner
of the continental loan-office in this state to be exchanged:
Therefore, |
Bills of credit
not to pass after
March 20,
&c. |
II. Be it enacted,
by the general assembly of Maryland, That after the twentieth
day of March next, no bills of credit issued by congress, or acts of assembly
during the old government, or resolves of convention, shall, within this
state, be
deemed paper money, or pass current, or be in law or equity a tender or
payment
for any debt, covenant, promise, contract or agreement. |
To be exchanged at
forty for one,
&c. |
III. And be
it enacted, That any subject of this state, bonâ fide the
possessor
and proprietor of any bills of credit issued by congress, or acts of assembly
under
the old government, or resolves of convention, or bonâ fide trustee
for any subject
of this state, for the purpose of exchanging the said bills of credit,
may, at any
time hereafter, on or before the first day of March next, bring in to the
continental
loan-office in this state any of the said bills of credit, and shall be
entitled
to receive, for every forty dollars so brought in, one dollar of the new
bills (emitted
agreeable to the resolve of congress of the eighteenth day of March last,
and
the act for sinking the quota required by congress of this state of the
bills of credit
emitted by congress) and in the same proportion for any greater quantity;
and
any person, after the said first day of March, and before the first day
of April
next, may bring into the said loan-office any of the said bills of credit,
and be
entitled to exchange them at the rate aforesaid; and the commissioner shall
receive
no more of the said continental bills of credit into his office, than,
with the
quantity exchanged in virtue of the said act, will amount unto twenty million
five hundred and forty thousand dollars; and after the said first day of
April next,
no bills of credit issued by congress, or acts of assembly under the old
government,
or resolves of convention, shall be received or exchanged by the said commissioner,
nor will this state ever hereafter redeem, or in any manner be answerable
for the
redemption or sinking of any of the said bills of credit; and one sixth
part of the
new bills exchanged as aforesaid shall be sunk annually after the first
day of January
next, in the manner directed by the said act; provided always, that if
so |
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