Restrictions: Some restrictions apply to this series. Staff member must be present at use
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Scope and Content: Per Resolves 1784, Oct Sess, c 64 (Nov. 8, 1784), the Massachusetts General Court allocated monies (increased per Resolves 1797, c 111 (Feb. 23, 1798)) to the commanding officers of militia artillery companies to create gun houses for storage of field pieces and related equipment. To receive funds, each officer was required to post bond with the state treasurer. Series includes such signed/sealed bonds directed to the treasurer from various locations including the District of Maine, as well as a copy of the 1784 resolve.
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Scope and Content: St 1781, c 17 (November 1, 1781), amended by St 1781, c 33 (Mar. 7, 1782), established excise (internal duty or tax imposed on the sale or use of certain articles) on wine, rum, spirits, tea, and other items, to be levied on licensed retailers for the purpose of paying interest on government securities. A collector of excise was appointed for each county by the General Court and was required to give bond to the state treasurer. These acts were repealed by St 1782, c 33 (Nov. 8, 1782), and new excise duties established. Per St 1782, c 64 (Mar. 22, 1783), imposts (tax or duty on goods imported into the country) were also imposed. St 1783, c 12 (July 10, 1783) required collectors of impost and excise (as they were now known) to give bond to the treasurer. –The post of Comptroller General was established as of Jan. 1, 1787, per St 1786, c 42 (Nov. 10, 1786), to supervise and regularize reporting by impost and excise collectors. St 1786, c 48 (Nov. 17, 1786) directed impost collectors to give bond to the comptroller general and be sworn to faithful discharge of their duties before a justice of the peace, who was to forward a certificate to the comptroller general. Resolves 1787, May Sess, c 89 (July 7, 1787) required collectors of impost and excise to take an oath (text included in resolve) before the treasurer or a justice of the peace, prior to submitting any orders or receiving credit for amounts received. The oath confirmed that the orders were received without promise of any reward, from persons actually owing impost and excise. St 1788, c 13 (June 20, 1788) continued to direct impost collectors to give bond to the comptroller general. Resolves 1788, May Sess, c 87 (June 20, 1788) directed collectors to settle accounts with the comptroller general by the end of July as of May first, or be replaced. –The first federal revenue bill after adoption of the U.S. Constitution passed July 4, 1789, whereby regulation of trade and collection of impost ceased to be state functions (cf. St 1789, c 18, June 25, 1789). St 1789, c 48 (Mar. 3, 1790) imposed a new annual excise on a large variety of articles. County excise collectors were appointed, giving bond to the comptroller general. With federal assumption of the state debt from the Revolutionary War, most state excises were repealed by St 1790, c 15 (Sept. 17, 1790), and the post of comptroller general was discontinued per St 1791, c 15 (June 18, 1791), as of July 1791. –Excise collectors after this time continued to collect carriage duties, duties on deeds, and various license duties such as for tavernkeepers or admission of attorneys, in addition to amounts still owing from previous levies. They continued to be appointed or reappointed per resolves through 1794. The excise on carriages was repealed by St 1794, c 23 (June 27, 1794). St 1795, c 80 (Feb. 27, 1796) repealed all remaining excise acts and gave responsibility for collecting various licensing duties to the clerk of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, who forwarded fees directly to the county treasurer.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by year
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Scope and Content: St 1786, c 48, c 49, and 47 (Nov. 17, 1786) respectively instituted as of Jan. 1 , 1787 an impost duty on certain goods imported into Massachusetts, an excise tax on certain other imports and other luxury goods sold, and specified that one third of the taxes so collected were for state expenses, the other two thirds for payment of interest on consolidated notes of the Commonwealth. Resolves 1786, Jan 1787 Sess, c 92 (Mar. 5, 1787) directed correspondingly that collectors of impost and excise were to receive one third of the payments in specie, the remaining two thirds in special treasurer’s certificates issued on imposts and excises appropriated for interest payments. Such certificates would have been previously issued under as yet undetermined circumstances to individuals through county collectors of the taxes. Previous excise taxes had been paid by general tax certificates (see Anderson MA 38-39 in: Treasury tax certificates, 1782-1791 ((M-Ar)1597X)). Issuance of such certificates ceased with the federal assumption of such taxation, its assumption of state debt generally, and the state’s consequent repeal of its impost (St 1789, c 18 (June 25, 1789)) and most excise taxes (St 1790, c 15 (Sept. 17, 1790))
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Scope and Content: During the American Revolution, a series of actions taken by the Massachusetts General Court against estates abandoned by departing Loyalists directed legislative agents to take, inventory, auction, or lease real and personal property for state benefit. Organized by absentee estate from various Massachusetts counties, ledger lists debits and credits for each estate on facing pages. –Many estates were insolvent, so the percentage of each claim paid out is given, with formulas changing over time as new claims surfaced. Certification of amounts paid into the state treasury was done by members of the Committee for Methodizing Accounts (for history of this body, see (M-Ar)2350X), which was appointed to settle the accounts of the county committees by Resolves 1782, May Sess, c 85 (July 1, 1782). Absentee estates listed include those of Thomas Hutchinson, Governor Francis Bernard, and Lewis Deblois. John Hancock appears among the claimants to various estates. –Also included are certificates signed by a judge of probate awarding claims against several of the estates.
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Bank, predecessor to the Massachusetts National Bank and First National Bank of Boston, was established by act of the Massachusetts legislature in 1784 (St 1783, c 25), following petition by Boston merchants William Phillips, Isaac Smith, Jonathan Mason, Thomas Russell, John Lowell, and Stephen Higginson. James Bowdoin, then governor, was elected first president; he was succeeeded in 1786 by Phillips, the major stockholder. –Financial cooperation between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Bank began per Resolves 1786, Jan 1787 Sess, c 40, authorizing the state treasurer to borrow funds from the bank to finance suppression of Shays’ Rebellion. Thereafter the state regularly borrowed from the bank; loans were renewed or partly repaid with renewal of the remainder. Resolves 1790, Jan 1791 Sess, c 164 authorized the treasurer to deposit monies in the bank for safekeeping as necessary.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Restrictions: Some restrictions apply to this series. Staff member must be present at use
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Scope and Content: As early as the seventeenth century, the Massachusetts legislature provided pensions to soldiers wounded or disabled while in military service. Pension payments disrupted because of government upheavals in 1774 led the Provincial Congress to establish a new pension list in 1775.
Notes: Contents: [v. 1] Pension book, 1775-1802. [v. 2] State pension book/Book of accounts of annual pensions, 1802-1830. [v. 3] New pension book 1830, 1829-1833. [v. 4] Pension book, 1802-1836, with name index. [v. 5] Pension book 1829 to–, 1829-1839, with name index. [v. 6] [no title], 1836-1852, with name index.
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Scope and Content: HISTORICAL NOTE: The post-Revolutionary Massachusetts legislature endeavored to collect taxes levied to pay war debt and other state expenses, particularly burdening farmers in the western part of the state. Angered by foreclosures and imprisonment imposed for tax delinquency and not receiving satisfaction for grievance petitions filed with the legislature, the protesting farmers rioted and closed courthouses under the leadership of Revolutionary veteran Daniel Shays. The state militia was called out to suppress Shays’ Rebellion in Sept. 1786, in Jan. 1787 a state army was formed for the purpose, and by February the insurgents were defeated. –MILITARY PAYROLL SYSTEM: (For titles of record series cited by number only, see finding aids note below.) Payment of the various troops was by a system of rolls ((M-Ar)987X) organized and paid by the state treasurer. Rolls were written up by each military unit, validated by a local justice of the peace, then sent to the Treasury where the rolls were numbered and the information entered into a roll book (present series). The treasurer submitted a warrant for each payroll to the Governor and Council for approval to pay out the amounts listed; these approved warrants were attached to the original payroll. Each soldier wishing to collect his pay submitted an order ((M-Ar)988X, (M-Ar)2313X) to the treasurer, often through a third party, in some cases including a certificate ((M-Ar)2314X) verifying his service. The soldier or his representative then signed the roll book confirming receipt of this amount. Amounts actually paid out were entered into the treasurer’s blotter by number as part of that month’s payments. Since payees often delayed collecting their debts from the treasurer, orders for Shays’ Rebellion service were still being paid out into the 1790s. –The payment system for Shays’ Rebellion was further complicated by the death of Treasurer Thomas Ivers in April 1787. In that era each treasurer was personally responsible for state funds, so that books had to be balanced and closed out and started anew with each treasurer. Each treasurer created roll books to track new payrolls coming in, with a new numbering sequence, so that duplicate payroll numbers are often found. Many payees had not yet collected on payrolls already submitted to and warranted by Ivers (through Apr. 11, 1787). These unpaid amounts had to be identified and transferred into books of abstracts administered by Treasurer Alexander Hodgdon. Amounts remaining unpaid in 1792 were then again transferred to new treasurer Thomas Davis, whose accounts have not been located. Original organization of records was as follows: –Treasurer Ivers: (1) Old militia rolls, so-called, 1782-1787, numbered 1-276 (not presently located), were comprised primarily of Revolutionary War rolls and also those for Castle Island. Rolls 1-194 data was entered in roll book L. Rolls 195-276 data was entered in roll book M. Warrants for these rolls predate March 1787. Some were entered into Ivers’s last blotter, on Apr. 11, 1787. (2) Rebellion rolls, numbered 277-383, data entered in roll book N. These had warrants dating Mar.-Apr. 1787, also entered in blotter, Apr. 11, 1787. –Treasurer Hodgdon: (1) Rebellion rolls, 1-197, data entered in roll book A, warrants entered into blotter, Dec. 31, 1787-July 1792. (2) Rebellion rolls, 1-238 (Castle rolls included in 204-238), data entered in roll book B, warrants entered into blotter, Dec. 31, 1787-July 1792. (3) Abstract E 4-367, based on Iver’s unpaid rolls 2-367 (368-383 already paid in full), including old militia rolls (1-276, with warrants predating March 1787) as listed in roll books L and M, and unpaid rebellion rolls 277-383 as listed in roll book N; entered into blotter, Dec. 31, 1787-July 1792. (4) Abstracts based on roll books A and B, sent in later than the others. (5) Newall’s Regiment for one-month men. –In Feb. 1787, the legislature established pay rates for those involved in suppressing Shays’ Rebellion and requested that rolls be made out by officers and approved by the governor and council. Resolves 1786, Jan Sess, c 13 (Feb. 6, 1787) set rates for noncommissioned officers and privates, c 50 (Feb. 25, 1787) for officers, and c 61 (Feb. 28, 1787) for cavalry and artillery.
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