ACTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
of the
UNITED STATES,Passed at the first session, which was begun and held at the City of Washington, in the District of Columbia, on Monday, the first day of December, 1817, and ended on the twentieth day of April, 1818.
James Monroe, President of the United States; Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate; John Gaillard, President of the Senate pro tempore, from December 1, 1817, to March 9, 1818, and from April 3, to April 20, 1818; Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
STATUTE Ⅰ.
Chapter I.—An Act to abolish the internal duties.
Duties abolished after the 31st of Dec. 1817.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, the internal duties on licenses to distillers; on refined sugars; licenses to retailers, sales at auction; carriages for the conveyance of persons; and stamped vellum, parchment, and paper, shall be discontinued; and all acts, and parts of acts, relative thereto, shall, from and after the said thirty-first day of December, be reapealed:Proviso; acts to remain in force for the collection, &c. of duties accrued, &c. Provided, That, for the collection, recovery, remission, and receipt, of such duties as shall have accrued, and on the day aforesaid remain outstanding, and for the payment of drawbacks or allowances on the exportation of any of the said spirits or sugars legally entitled thereto, provided the exportation be effected previous to the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and for the recovery and distribution of fined, penalties, and forfeitures, and the remission thereof, which shall have been incurred before and on the said thirty-first day of December, the provisions of the aforesaid act shall remain in full force and virtue.
Offices of collectors to continue until collection is complete, unless, &c.President empowered to discontinue collectors, unite collection districts, &c.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the offices of the collectors of the internal duties and direct tax shall continue in each collection district, respectively, until the collection of the duties above mentioned, and of the direct tax, shall have been completed in such district, and no longer, unless sooner discontinued by the President of the United States, who shall be, and hereby is, empowered, whenever the collection of the said duties and tax shall have been so far completed in any district as to render, in his opinion, that measure expedient, to discontinue any of the said collectors, and to unite, into one collection district, any two or more collection districts, lying and being in the same state; in which case, the collectors thereafter employed in the collection of the said duties and tax in such state or district shall be appointed and removable by the President alone; and for promoting the collection of any of the above-
