Expenditures. 55 



tionalists and Presbyterians was twenty thousand five hundred 

 dollars.^ 



Being the last of its kind in Connecticut, this act is of more than 

 passing interest. That the Congregational denomination was still 

 the state denomination is shown by the fact that the state treasurer 

 held the appropriation and distributed it directly to the several 

 societies, but its days as such were nearing a close. The voting of 

 grants to religious societies by the state also ceased with this act and 

 church and state have become entirely distinct. 



This act is one of the last deeds accomplished by the Federalist 

 party in Connecticut. The opposition, called the " Toleration Party," 

 was rapidly overcoming the federalists and the charge made that 

 this was a pohtical move on the part of the federalists to stave off 

 defeat seems quite probable. 



10. Bounties and Other Encouragements. 

 At its May session in 1784 the general assembly voted that a 

 bounty of three pounds — equivalent to ten dollars — should be given 

 every inhabitant of the state who killed a full grown wolf within 

 the limits of any town in the state. A similar bounty one- 

 half as large was offered for every wolf's whelp thus killed. ^ Evidently 

 Connecticut soon became too thickly settled for the acquirement 

 of large personal gain from this bounty; for after the state had 

 joined the Union this bounty was awarded in three years only — 1790, 

 1792 and 1795 — and the total amount of the bounties paid was 

 only fifteen pounds, or fifty dollars. 



At the same session of the legislature an act to encourage the silk 

 industry was passed. This act provided for the payment of two pence 

 for every ounce of silk wound from the cocoons of silk worms 

 raised on mulberry trees in the state and was to apply for 

 ten years beginning July 1, 1784.^ The law, therefore, was in opera- 

 tion at the time when this history begins. The amount paid by the 

 state for silk bounties from April 1, 1789, unt 1 April 30, 1799, was 

 only $950.37. 



At the !May session of 1803 the general assembly passed an act 

 providing for the payment of a bounty of ten dollars a ton for the 

 XT I raising of hemp. This act also exempted from tax- 



Piax ation, for the year in which the crop was harvested, all 



^ The amount assigned to the Congregationahsts and Presbyterians was 

 not completely distributed until during the fiscal year ending April 10, 1819. 

 2 Conn. Laws, 1784, p. 282. 

 ^ Idem. 



