Scope and Content: To encourage domestic cultivation of hemp and manufacture of hemp products (rope, duck and other sail cloth, and twine), the Massachusetts General Court mandated per Resolves 1786, Sept Sess, c 83, that a bounty be paid by the Commonwealth to anyone raising and manufacturing products from hemp–or raising and selling hemp for manufacture–upon submission to the state treasurer of certificates from local selectmen and the local surveyor of hemp or, if none, a reputable ropemaker.  The bounty was increased by Resolves 1787, Feb 1788 Sess, c 102, which also added bounties for other hemp manufactures as inspected by the commissary general.  Resolves 1789, Jan 1790 Sess, c 111 continued the bounties through Dec. 1791, again raising the one on hemp.  Resolves 1790, Jan 1791 Sess, c 157 appropriated the needed revenues for such bounties (see: Unsold canceled lottery tickets, 1790-1792 ((M-Ar)2263X)), which were continued through June 1793 per Resolves 1791, c 1, and through June 1794 per Resolves 1792, May Sess, c 66.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically in three groups, thereunder alphabetically by initial letter of surname
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