ATF Transfers Alexander Hamilton Document to National Archives

(T)he Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) transferred an original 18th century Alexander Hamilton document to the National Archives. The document will become part of the permanent holdings of the National Archives and will be preserved in a locked, temperature and humidity-controlled stack area in its College Park, Md., facility.

The document, dated Dec. 18, 1790, and signed by the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, is a circular letter distributed to the customs agents of the United States. Secretary Hamilton’s letter describes the method for measuring the proof of distilled spirits for taxation.
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At the end of the American Revolution, the national government owed $37 million dollars in debt, a figure dwarfed by the $114 million owed by the states. At Hamilton’s urging, the federal government assumed responsibility for the debt of the states. One of the first attempts by Congress to reduce the national debt was the Tariff of 1789, which placed duties on the import of distilled spirits among other items. Quickly realizing that these duties were not generating enough revenue, a higher tariff was passed by Congress in 1790. The letter ATF transferred to the National Archives describes how duties from the Tariff of 1790 would be determined.

Source: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

This entry was posted on Friday, September 25th, 2009 and is filed under Archives and Special Collections, Government Documents and Political Information, History, Search News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.