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CHAPTER 11.

SOURCES OF HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, STATISTICAL, AND OTHER INFORMATION, REGARDING THE LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN POSSESSION OF THE PUBLIC OFFICES AT THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

In the course of experience in public business, it has been found that great embarrassment arises to persons entering into public life in obtaining a practical knowledge of the operations of the Government from its foundation to the period of their entering upon the arena-which knowledge cannot well be dispensed with by unbelievers in the doctrine that statesmanship comes by intuition or inspiration. They modestly approach the highly important and responsible stations in the legislative or executive branches of the Government to which the partiality of their fellow-citizens has called them, and prepare with diligence, however well acquainted with the general history of the country, to qualify themselves for a consistent, intelligent, and faithful discharge of duty, by a revision of the acts and proceedings of their predecessors tending to or terminating in measures of state policy, which have either been confirmed by repeated legislation, or remain open questions for investigation and discussion, and by an examination of the foreign and domestic relations, the matter and form of legislative business generally, and the facts and minutiae of cases requiring, by appointment and a proper discharge of duty, particular attention.

It may, therefore, not be unacceptable to citizens entering into public life, or to those who may expect at some future period to take part in public affairs, or to those who may desire to extend their information concerning the measures, policy, and business

CHAPTER 11.

SOURCES OF HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, STATISTICAL, AND OTHER INFORMATION, REGARDING THE LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN POSSESSION OF THE PUBLIC OFFICES AT THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

In the course of experience in public business, it has been found that great embarrassment arises to persons entering into public life in obtaining a practical knowledge of the operations of the Government from its foundation to the period of their entering upon the arena-which knowledge cannot well be dispensed with by unbelievers in the doctrine that statesmanship comes by intuition or inspiration. They modestly approach the highly important and responsible stations in the legislative or executive branches of the Government to which the partiality of their fellow-citizens has called them, and prepare with diligence, however well acquainted with the general history of the country, to qualify themselves for a consistent, intelligent, and faithful discharge of duty, by a revision of the acts and proceedings of their predecessors tending to or terminating in measures of state policy, which have either been confirmed by repeated legislation, or remain open questions for investigation and discussion, and by an examination of the foreign and domestic relations, the matter and form of legislative business generally, and the facts and minutiae of cases requiring, by appointment and a proper discharge of duty, particular attention.

It may, therefore, not be unacceptable to citizens entering into public life, or to those who may expect at some future period to take part in public affairs, or to those who may desire to extend their information concerning the measures, policy, and business

concerns of the government, to be furnished with references to some of the sources and means of acquiring such information.

To the uninitiated, the accumulated mass of books, records, and documents, contained in the public archives, is calculated to dampen the ardor, if not to repulse the ordinary scholar or man of business from the attempt to fathom the depths of the arcana; and the present effort of the author and compiler to aid in this undertaking is more with the view of essaying a treatise which by extension and improvement may hereafter become a vade mecum to the statesman and legislator, and subserving the public interest and convenience, than with the hope of effecting such object in the present edition. The design of this undertaking is simply to refer to and briefly describe the books, records, and documents of a public character, to be found in the public archives at the Seat of Government, constituting the principal sources of political and statistical information. With a view of preserving perspicuity in the system, the whole will be arranged into classes and sections, as follows, viz.:

CLASS No. 1.

THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, AND DOCUMENTARY AND OTHER HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION.

Sec. 1. COLONEL PETER FORCE'S AMERICAN ARCHIVES: Consisting of a collection of authentic records, state papers, debates, and letters and other notices of public affairs: the whole forming A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY of the origin and progress of the North American Colonies; of the causes and accomplishment of the American Revolution; and of the Constitution of Government for the United States, to the final ratification thereof.

IN SIX SERIES.

First Series. From the discovery and settlement of the North American Colonies to the revolution in England, in 1688.

Second Series. From the revolution in England, in 1688, to the cession of Canada to Great Britain, by treaty at Paris, in 1763.

Third Series. From the cession of Canada, in 1763, to the king's message to Parliament, of March 7, 1774, on the proceedings in North America.

Fourth Series. From the king's message of March 7, 1774, to the Declaration of Independence by the United States, in 1776.

Fifth Series. From the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, to the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, in 1783.

Sixth Series. From the treaty of peace, in 1783, to the final ratification of the

Constitution of Government for the United States, proposed by the convention held at Philadelphia in 1787.

[Of this work, the fourth series only, in six volumes, has been completed, the other parts being in progress of execution.]

This work was authorized by the "Act making provision for the publication of the Documentary History of the American Revolution," approved March 2, 1833, which directs that it be distributed in the same manner as the American State Papers, under the resolution of July 10, 1832. It was further distributed by the general appropriation act of March 3, 1839.

CLASS No. 2.

LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS AND ACTS OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.

Sec. 1. THE PUBLIC JOURNAL OF CONGRESS, contained in 4 volumes

octavo:

Vol. 1. From September 5, 1774, to December 31, 1776.

Vol. 2. From January 1, 1777, to July 31, 1778.

Vol. 3. From August 1, 1778, to March 31, 1782.

Vol. 4. From April 1, 1782, to March 3, 1789.

This edition was published by Way & Gideon, in 1823; each volume having a separate index. The addresses to the king, Parliament, and people of Great Britain, and other documents preceding and succeeding the commencement of hostilities and the Declaration of Independence, are contained in vol. 1. The Articles of Confederation are contained in vol. 2. And the Journal of the Committee of the States empowered to act for Congress in the recess from June 4 to August 19, 1784; the powers to the Board of Treasury to contract for the sale of the western territory; contracts for moneys borrowed in Europe; credentials of deputies from the States to the convention that formed the Constitution; the Constitution; the ratifications of the Constitution by the conventions of the several States, are contained in vol. 4.

Sec. 2. THE SECRET JOURNALS OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION, in four volumes:

Vol. 1. On Domestic Affairs, from 1774 to 1788; History of the Confederation.

Vol. 2. On Foreign Affairs, from 1774 to August 16, 1781.

Vol. 3. On Foreign Affairs, from July, 1781, to May 15, 1786.

Vol. 4. On Foreign Affairs, from May 17, 1786, to September 16, 1788.

CLASS No. 3.

Sec. 1. THE JOURNAL, ACTS, AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION WHICH FORMED THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM MAY 14 TO SEPTEMBER 17, 1787: In one volume, pub lished under a resolution of Congress of March 27, 1818.

This volume contains the credentials of the deputies to the Convention, the Constitution, the ratifications by the State conventions, &c.

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