1789 - An Act Imposing Duties on Tonnage : July 20

AUTHOR — United States

An Act Imposing Duties on Tonnage

SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,_ That the following duties shall be, and are hereby imposed on all ships or vessels entered in the United States, that is to say:

On all ships or vessels built within the said States, and belonging wholly to a citizen or citizens thereof; or not built within the said States, but on the twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, belonging, and during the time such ships or vessels shall continue to belong wholly to a citizen or citizens thereof, at the rate of Six cents per ton. On all ships or vessels hereafter built in the United States, belonging wholly, or in part, to subjects of foreign powers, at the rate of thirty cents per ton. On all other ships or vessels, at the rate of fifty cents per ton.

SEC. 2. _Provided always, and be it enacted_, That no ship or vessel built within the aforesaid States, and belonging to a citizen or citizens thereof, shall, whilst employed in the coasting trade, or in the fisheries, pay tonnage more than once in any year.

SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That every ship or vessel employed in the transportation of any of the produce or manufactures of the United States. coastwise within the said States, except such ship or vessel be built within the said States, and belong to a citizen or citizens thereof, shall, on each entry, pay fifty cents per ton.

SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That this act shall commence and be in force from and after the fifteenth day of August next.

APPROVED July 20, 1789.

Source:<br>United States Statutes at Large