18 The Financial History of Connecticut . 



and $123,824.20 of three per cent stock in payment of interest on 

 this balance for five years beginning January 1, 1790.^ This stock 

 was not entirely redeemed until 1832 and it was the source of a large 

 part of the revenue of the state throughout the first quarter of the 

 nineteenth century. 



4. Transfer of U. S. Stock by State in Payment of Pubhc Debt. 



The reason for digressing from the payment of the state debt to 

 the setthng of the balance due to the state from the federal govern- 

 ment can now be made clear. By an act approved Jannuary 2. 1795, 

 congress authorized the states which were credited with United 

 States stock in payment of balances due them from the federal 

 government to transfer to those who had become their creaitors 

 before July 1, 1793, as much of said stock as should be necessary to 

 meet their claims. The making of such transfers was left optional 

 with each state and its creditors. ^ The original act limited the time 

 within which these transfers could be made to two years from the 

 time the act was passed; but in 1797, on motion of the Connecticut 

 representatives,^ congress extended the time to March 4, 1799.* This 

 offer was immediately accepted by the holders of a large portion of 

 the state debt. Within three months after congress had authorized 

 the states to make such transfers, £37,990 12s. lid., or $126,635.37, 

 had been exchanged^ and on March 4, 1799, the date set as the limit 

 for making transfers, $374,519.53 of stock had been transferred by 

 Connecticut, of which $164,926.90 was in six per cent stock, $83,841.79 

 in deferred six per cent stock, and $125,751.34 in three per cent stock." 

 In this manner by far the larger part of the debt remaining after the 

 assumption of the state debt by the federal government, which was 

 about one hundred nine thousand eight hundred pounds (cf. p. 15), 

 was extinguished and the remaining debt was now approximately 

 fourteen thousand four hundred pounds or forty-eight thousand 

 dollars. 



5. Registration of State Debt. 



In the October session of the general assembly in 1798 an act was 

 passed, known as the "Limitation Act," which provided that "all 



1 Compt. Report (Ms.), October 1794. 



2 Acts of Congress, 3 congress, 2 session, chap. 75. 



3 Compt. Report (Ms.), Oct. 1797. 



* Acts of Congress, 5 congress, 1 session, chap. 14. 

 ^ Compt. Report (Ms.), May 1795. 



^ Compt. Report (Ms.), 1801. Debit side of account of stock standing 

 to credit of Connecticut in books of commissioner of loans. 



