Public Acts of the Thirty-Seventh Congress
OF THE
UNITED STATES

Passed at the first session which was begun and held at the City of Wash­ington, in the District of Columbia, on Thursday, the fourth day of July, A.D. 1861, and ended on Tuesday, the sixth day of August, A.D. 1861.

Abraham Lincoln, President.
Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President, and President of the Senate.
Solomon Foote was elected Presi­dent of the Senate, pro tempore, on the eighteenth day of July, and continued so to act until the close of the session.
Galusha A. Grow, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. 1861.

--An Act supplementary to an Act entitled "An Act to authorize a National Loan, and for other Purposes."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue bonds of the United States, bearing interest at six per centum per annum, and payable at the pleasure of the United States after twenty years from date; and if any holder of Treasury notes, bearing interest at the rate of seven and three-tenths per centum, which may be issued under the authority of the act to authorize a national loan and for other purposes, approved July seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, shall desire to exchange the same for said bonds, the Secretary of the Treasury may, at any time before or at the maturity of said Treasury notes, issue to said holder, in payment thereof, an amount of said bonds equal to the amount which, at the time of such payment or exchange, may be due on said Treasury notes; but no such bonds shall be issued for a less sum than five hundred dollars, nor shall the whole amount of such bonds exceed the whole amount of Treasury notes bearing seven and three-tenths per centum interest, issued under said act; and any part of the Treasury notes payable on demand, authorized by said act, may be made payable by the Assistant Treasurer at Saint Louis, or by the depositary at Cincinnati.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Treasury notes issued under the provisions of the said act to authorize a national loan, and for other purposes, or of any other act now in force authorizing the issue of such notes, shall be signed by the Treasurer of the United States, or by some officer of the Treasury Department, designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, for said Treasurer, and countersigned by the Register of the Treasury, or by some officer of the Treasury Department, designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, for said Register, and no Treasury notes, issued under any act, shall require the seal of the Treasury Department.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act to which this is supplementary as limits the denomination of a portion of the Treasury notes authorized by said act at not less than ten dollars, be and is so modified as to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to fix the denomination of said notes at not less than five dollars.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That, in addition to the amount heretofore appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay such expenses, commissions, or compensation as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Treasury, to carry into execution the provisions of this act, and of the act to which this is supplementary.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Treasury notes authorized by the act to which this is supplementary, of a less denomination than fifty dollars, payable on demand without interest, and not exceeding in amount the sum of fifty millions of dollars, shall be receivable in payment of public dues.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the act entitled "An Act to provide for the better organization of the Treasury, and for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursements of the public revenue," passed August six, eighteen hundred and forty-six, be and the same are hereby suspended, so far as to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit any of the moneys obtained on any of the loans now authorized by law, to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, in such solvent specie-paying banks as he may select; and the said moneys, so deposited, may be withdrawn from such deposit for deposit with the regular authorized depositaries, or for the payment of public dues, or paid in redemption of the notes authorized to be issued under this act, or the act to which this is supplementary, payable on demand, as may seem expedient to, or be directed by, the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may sell or negotiate, for any portion of the loan provided for in the act to which this is supplementary, bonds payable not more than twenty years from date, and bearing interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, at any rate not less than the equivalent of par, for the bonds bearing seven per centum interest, authorized by said act.


APPROVED, August 5, 1861.