PREFACE 



The purpose of this study is to trace tlie history and growth of the 

 revenue and disbursements of the State of Connecticut from 1789 

 until the outbreak of the Civil War. Eventually it is intended to 

 make the "Financial History of Connecticut " complete by bringing 

 it down to date and by including also a study of the county and munic- 

 ipal systems, but the present volume is hmited to the first three of 

 the periods designated below and to the state government only. 



The financial history of Connecticut falls naturally into four periods. 

 In many respects — e. g., taxation, income, and expenditures — these 

 periods are clearly distinguished. 



L 1789-1818. Prolongation of Colonial Period. 

 n. 1818-1846. Period of Slow Development. 



in. 1846-1861. Period of Expansion. 



IV. 1861-1910. Modern Period. 



These periods are not wholly independent of one another and often 

 it will be necessary or convenient, in the treatment of a period, to 

 introduce subjects that include dates from the immediately preceding 

 or succeeding period. 



Considerable difficulty has been experienced in collecting data for 

 this monograph. The treasurers' reports were not printed until 1851 

 and with the exception of a manuscript foHo of October, 1818, no 

 trace of manuscript accounts of the treasurer can be found. The state 

 comptroller's office, however, has an almost complete set of the manu- 

 script records of the comptrollers from 1787 until 1851. Before 1817 

 these did not contain a detailed statement of the receipts but gave 

 only an account of the expenditures. The author was obliged to 

 secure his data for the receipts of the state previous to 1817 from manu- 

 script reports of the auditors of the treasurers' accounts. Until 1798 

 these auditors' reports classify the receipts almost entirely according 

 to whether payments were made in specie or in some form of the state 

 debt. The accounts are both comphcated and meager and with no 

 other data available make it impossible to give any serviceable classi- 

 fication. 



The principal sources of information have been documentary, 

 consisting of the public and private acts of the state legislature and 

 the reports of state officers. After 1837 the private or special acts, 



