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(ACT of March 2d, 1819.)

The postmaster general may allow to the postmasters, respectively, a commission of fifty per cent. on the moneys arising from the postage of newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets; and to the postmaster whose compensation shall not exceed five hundred dollars in one quarter, two cents for every free letter delivered out of the office, excepting such as are for the postmaster himself; and each postmaster who shall be required to keep a register of the arrival and departure of the mails, shall be allowed ten cents for each monthly return which he makes thereof to the general post office.

The postmaster general may allow to the postmaster at New Orleans, at the rate of eight hundred dollars, and to the postmaster at Warrenton, in North Carolina, at the rate of two hundred dollars, and to the postmaster at Wheeling, in Virginia, at the rate of two hundred dollars a year, in addition to their ordinary commissions. The postmaster general is hereby authorised to allow to the postmaster at the city of Washington, in addition to the allowance made by this act for postage collected, and for free letters received by him for delivery, a commission of five per centum on the amount of mails distributed at his office: Provided, nevertheless, That the whole annual emoluments of the said postmaster, including the extra compensation heretofore allowed to him by law, shall always be subject to the restriction imposed by the fortieth section of the act of congress approved the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and ten, to which this act is in addition.

42. SEC. 1. Letters and packets to and from any member of the senate, or member or delegate of the house of representatives of the United States, the secretary of the senate, and clerk of the house of representatives, shall be conveyed free of postage, for thirty days previous to each session of congress, and for thirty days after the termination thereof: Provided always, That no letter or packet shall exceed two ounces in weight, and in case of excess of weight, that excess alone shall be paid for.

ACT of March 1, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 211.

All letters and packets to and from James Madison, now president of the United States, after the expiration of his term of office, and during his life, shall be carried by the mail free of postage.

ACT of February 20, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 23.

43. [Fixes the salaries of the postmaster general, assistant postmaster general, and additional assistant postmaster general. See title SALARIES, 15.]

ACT of March 2, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 48.

44. SEC. 1. The postmaster general may, and he is hereby authorised to contract for the transportation of the mail in steam boats, between New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana, and Louis

(ACT of March 1st, 1792.)

ville, in the state of Kentucky, for any term of time, not exceeding four years in any one contract, in the same way and manner as he lawfully may, for the carriage of it, by land; but the whole expense of sending the mail in steam boats, shall not exceed that of transmitting the same by land.

ACT of December 14, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 4.

The members of congress, the delegates from territories, the secretary of the senate, and the clerk of the house of representatives, are hereby authorised to transmit, free of postage, to any post office within the United States, or the territories thereof, any documents which have been, or may be, printed by order of either house, during the present congress.

ACT of March 13, 1820. Pamphlet edit. 22.

45. During the present and every subsequent session of congress, all letters and packets to and from the president of the senate pro tempore, and the speaker of the house of representatives, for the time being, shall be received and conveyed by mail, free of postage, under the same restrictions as are provided by law, with respect to letters and packets to and from the vice president of the United States.

PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.

Electors, when and how many appointed, 1| Vacancy how supplied pro tempore,

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ACT of March 1, 1792. 2 Bioren, 253.

1. SEC. 1. Except in case of an election of a president and vice president of the United States, prior to the ordinary period, as hereinafter specified, electors shall be appointed in each state for the election of a president and vice president of the United States, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and within thirtyfour days preceding the first Wednesday in December in every fourth year succeeding the last election, which electors shall be equal to the number of senators and representatives to which the several states may, by law, be entitled at the time when the president and vice president, thus to be chosen, should come into office. Provided always, That where no apportionment of representatives shall have been made after any enumeration, at the time of choosing electors, then the number of electors shall be according to the existing apportionment of senators and representatives.

(ACT of March 1st, 1792.)

2. SEC. 11. The electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, at such place, in each state, as shall be directed by the legislature thereof; and the electors in each state shall make and sign three certificates of all the votes by them given, and shall seal up the same, certifying, on each, that a list of the votes of such state, for president and vice president, is contained therein, and shall, by writing, under their hands, or under the hands of a majority of them, appoint a person to take charge of, and deliver to the president of the senate, at the seat of government, before the first Wednesday in January then next ensuing, one of the said certificates; and the said electors shall forthwith forward, by the post office, to the president of the senate, at the seat of government, one other of the said certificates; and shall, forthwith, cause the other of the said certificates to be delivered to the judge of that district in which the said electors shall assemble.

3. SEC. III. The executive authority of each state shall cause three lists of the names of the electors of such state to be made, and certified, and to be delivered to the electors on or before the said first Wednesday in December; and the said electors shall annex one of the said lists to each of the lists of their votes.

SEC. IV. If a list of votes from any state shall not have been received at the seat of government, on the said first Wednesday in January, then the secretary of state shall send a special messenger to the district judge in whose custody such list shall have been lodged, who shall forthwith transmit the same to the seat of government.

4. SEC. v. Congress shall be in session on the second Wednesday in February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and on the second Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the electors, and the said certificates, or so many of them as shall have been received, shall then be opened, the votes counted, and the persons who shall fill the offices of president and vice president ascertained and declared, agreeably to the constitution.

SEC. VI. In case there shall be no president of the senate at the seat of government on the arrival of the persons intrusted with the lists of the votes of the electors, then such persons shall deliver the lists of votes in their custody into the office of the secretary of state, to be safely kept and delivered over, as soon as may be, to the president of the senate.

SEC. VII. The persons appointed by the electors to deliver the lists of votes to the president of the senate, shall be allowed, on the delivery of the said lists, twenty-five cents for every mile of the estimated distance, by the most usual road, from the place of meeting of the electors to the seat of government of the United States.

5. SEC. VIII. If any person, appointed to deliver the votes of the electors to the president of the senate, shall, after accepting

(ACT of March 3d, 1817.)

of his appointment, neglect to perform the services required of him by this act, he shall forfeit the sum of one thousand dollars. 6. SEG. IX. In case of a removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the president and vice president of the United States, the president of the senate pro tempore, and, in case there shall be no president of the senate, then the speaker of the house of representatives, for the time being, shall act as president of the United States, until the disability be removed, or a president shall be elected.

7. SEC. x. Whenever the offices of president and vice president shall both become vacant, the secretary of state shall forthwith cause a notification thereof to be made to the executive of every state, and shall also cause the same to be published in, at least, one of the newspapers printed in each state, specifying that elec tors of the president of the United States, shall be appointed or chosen, in the several states, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, then next ensuing: Provided, There shall be the space of two months between the date of such notifiIcation and the said first Wednesday in December; but if there shall not be the space of two months between the date of such notification and the first Wednesday in December, and if the term for which the president and vice president last in office were elected shall not expire on the third day of March next ensuing, then the secretary of state shall specify in the notification, that the electors shall be appointed or chosen within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December in the year next ensuing, within which time the electors shall accordingly be appointed or chosen, and the electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, and the proceedings and duties of the said electors and others shall be pursuant to the directions prescribed in this act.

8. SEC. XI. The only evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of, the office of president or vice president, shall be an instrument in writing, declaring the same, and subscribed by the person refusing to accept, or resigning, as the case may be, and delivered into the office of the secretary of state.

9. SEC. XII. The term of four years for which a president and vice president shall be elected, shall, in all cases, commence on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors shall have been given.

ACT of March 3, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 283.

10. Any person imprisoned upon execution for a debt due to the United States, which he shall be unable to pay, if his case shall be such as does not authorise his discharge by the secretary of the treasury, under the powers given him by the act, entitled "An act providing for the relief of persons imprisoned for debts due to the United States," may make application to the president of the United States, and upon proof being made to his satisfac

(ACT of April 18th, 1814.)

tion that such debtor is unable to pay the debt, and upon a compliance by the debtor with such terms and conditions as the president shall deem proper, he may order the discharge of such debtor from his imprisonment, and he shall be accordingly discharged, and shall not be liable to be imprisoned again for the same debt; but the judgment shall remain good and sufficient in law, and may be satisfied out of any estate which may then, or at any time afterwards, belong to the debtor.

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1. SEC. 1. [The secretary of state is authorised and directed to subscribe on behalf of the United States, for one thousand copies of the edition of the laws, proposed to be published by John Bioren, W. John Duane, and Roger C. Weightman, and to appoint a competent person to prepare said edition for publication, and to superintend the same, under the direction of the secretary of state, and the attorney general.]

2. SEC. 11. The said secretary shall cause the said copies of the laws to be distributed as soon as may be after publication, in manner following: one set shall be delivered to the president of the United States, the vice president, and to each member of the senate and house of representatives; six sets shall be delivered to the secretary of the senate, and eighteen sets to the clerk of the house of representatives, for the use of said houses, respectively; one set shall be delivered, to each of the judges of the supreme court, and clerk thereof, to each of the judges of the district courts, and to each of the marshals, clerks, and attorneys, of each district; one set shall be delivered to the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, to the secretary of war, to the secretary of the navy, to the attorney general, to the director of the mint, to the comptroller, auditor, and register, of the treasury, to the treasurer, to the accountants of the war and navy departments, to the postmaster general and the two assistant postmasters general, to the commissioner of the revenue, and to the commissioner of the general land office, each; two sets shall be delivered to the legislatures of the several states and territories, respectively; one set shall be delivered to each of the governors of the several states and territories; and one set shall be delivered to each of the judges of the courts in the several territories: and the residue of said subscription shall remain at the future disposal of congress.

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