# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 1/1st Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 38

Chap. XXXVIII.—An Act to provide more effectually for the settlement of the Accounts between the United States and the individual States.
Board of three commissioners to be appointed. Act of August 5, 1789, ch. 6. 1792, ch. 5.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a board, to consist of three commissioners, be, and hereby is established to settle the accounts between the United States, and the individual states; and the determination of a majority of the said commissioners on the claims submitted to them, shall be final and conclusive; and they shall have power to employ such number of clerks as they may find necessary.
Who are to take an oath;Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall respectively take an oath or affirmation before the chief justice of the ​United States, or one of the associate or district judges, that they will faithfully and impartially execute the duties of their office. And they shall each of them be entitled to receive at the rate of two thousandtheir salary. two hundred and fifty dollars per annum, payable quarter yearly at the treasury of the United States, for their respective services.
Mode of procedure in examining claims.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said commissioners to receive and examine all claims which shall be exhibited to them before the first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, and to determine on all such as shall have accrued for the general or particular defence during the war, and on the evidence thereof, according to the principles of general equity (although such claims may not be sanctioned by the resolves of Congress, or supported by regular vouchers), so as to provide for the final settlement of all accounts between the United States and the states individually; but no evidence of a claim heretofore admitted by a commissioner of the United States for any state or district, shall be subject to such examination; nor shall the claim of any citizen be admitted as a charge against the United States in the account of any state, unless the same was allowed by such state before the twenty-fourth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight.
To liquidate to specie value credits and debits of certain states.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said commissioners to examine and liquidate to specie value, on principles of equity, the credits and debits of the states already on the books of the treasury for bills of credit subsequent to the eighteenth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty.
On the final settlement, aggregate of all the balances to be apportioned between the states.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners shall debit each state with all advances which have been, or may be made to it by the United States, and with the interest thereon to the last day of the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, and shall credit each state for its disbursements and advances on the principles contained in the third section of this act, with interest to the day aforesaid, and having struck the balance due to each state, shall find the aggregate of all the balances, which aggregate shall be apportioned between the states agreeably to the rule herein after given; and the difference between such apportionments, and the respective balances, shall be carried in a new account to the debit or credit of the states respectively, as the case may be.
The rule of apportionment.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the rule for apportioning to the states the aggregate of the balances first above mentioned, shall be the same that is prescribed by the constitution of the United States, for the apportionment of representation and direct taxes, and according to the first enumeration which shall be made.
Creditor states to have their balances funded.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the states who shall have balances placed to their credit on the books of the treasury of the United States, shall, within twelve months after the same shall have been so credited, be entitled to have the same funded upon the same terms with the other part of the domestic debt of the United States; but the balances so credited to any state shall not be transferable.
Salaries of the clerks.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the clerks employed, or to be employed by the said commissioners, shall receive like salaries as clerks employed in the treasury department.
Continuance of the commissioners’ powers.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the powers of the said commissioners shall continue until the first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, unless the business shall be sooner accomplished.
Approved, August 5, 1790.