Act for the Relief of Sick & DisabledSeamen, July 1798

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

Wth July,
1798.
CHAP. [94.] An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen.

§ 1.

Be it enacted, Sfc.

That from and after the first day of September next, the master or owner
of every ship or vessel of the United States, arriving from a foreign port into any port of the
United States, shall, before such ship or vessel shall be admitted to an entry, render to the
collector a true account of the number of seamen that shall have been employed on board such
vessel since she was last entered at any port in the United States, and shall pay, to the said
collector, at the rate of twenty cents per month for every seaman so employed ; which sum he is
hereby authorized to retain out of the wages of such seamen.

§ 2.

That from and after the first day of September next, no collector shall grant to any ship or
vessel whose enrollment or license for carrying on the coasting trade has expired, a new
enrollment or license, before the master of such ship or vessel shall first render a true account to
the collector, of the number of seamen, and the time they have severally been employed on board
such ship or vessel, during the continuance of the license which has so expired, and pay to such
collector twenty cents per month for every month such seamen have been severally employed as
aforesaid ; which sum the said master is hereby authorized to retain out of the wages of such
seamen. And if any such master shall render a false account of the number of men, and the length
of time they have severally been employed, as is herein required, he shall forfeit and pay one
hundred dollars.

§ 3.

That it shall be the duty of the several collectors to make a quarterly return of the sums
collected by them, respectively, by virtue of this act, to the secretary of the treasury ; and the
president of the United States is hereby authorized, out of the same, to provide for the temporary
relief and maintenance of sick, or disabled seamen, in the hospitals or other proper institutions
now established in the several ports of the United States, or in ports where no such institutions
exist, then in such other manner as he shall direct:
Provided,
that the moneys collected in any
one district, shall be expended within the same.

§ 4.

That if any surplus shall remain of the moneys to be collected by virtue of this act, after
defraying the expense of such temporary relief and support, that the same, together with such
private donations as may be made for that purpose, (which the president is hereby authorized to
receive,) shall be invested in the stock of the United States, under the direction of the president;
and when, in his opinion, a sufficient fund shall be accumulated, he is hereby authorized to
purchase or receive cessions or donations of ground or buildings, in the name of the United
States, and to cause buildings, when necessary, to be erected as hospitals for the accommodation
of sick and disabled seamen.
§ 5. That the president of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to nominate and
appoint, in such ports of the United States as he may think proper, one or more persons, to be
called directors of the marine hospital of the United States, whose duty it shall be to direct the
expenditure of the fund assigned for their respective ports, according to the third section of this
act; to provide for the accommodation of sick and disabled seamen, under such general






Curtis, George Tickner. A Treatise on the Rights and Duties of Merchant Seamen, According to the General Maritime Law, and
the Statutes of the United States. (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841), 407-409

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29099806/Act-for-the-Relief-of-Sick-DisabledSeamen-July-1798

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

Not a lot of action here. This thread demonstrates a lot of interesting things.


1) Demonstrates very early the government's ability to withhold from a paycheck and then use that same monies on health care. Not optional!

2) Establishes the "Stock of the United States" which has tie-ins to the modern day CAFR debacle.

[drafter]

1) Demonstrates very early the government's ability to withhold from a paycheck and then use that same monies on health care. Not optional!

But you had the option to not be a seaman on a US ship. They signed up for that. Could have become a farmer or something instead. Now we'll have no option. Merely being a "citizen" of this empire is enough now, and like they're trying to do with taxes in general, they'll soon make it difficault to escape being a "citizen" at some point.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

But you had the option to not be a seaman on a US ship. They signed up for that. Could have become a farmer or something instead. Now we'll have no option. Merely being a "citizen" of this empire is enough now, and like they're trying to do with taxes in general, they'll soon make it difficault to escape being a "citizen" at some point.

So it appears that this applied to all men at sea, i.e. seamen. So it really takes the freedom of the seas away from the early Americans, they can not just set down their boats and travel freely...can they? the bill implies through language that it is commercial in nature yet it states that it applies to "Every ship or vessel of the united states"

The language tricks had already started back then.

[drafter]

I get what you're saying, but I was assuming that it only applied to ships owned by the the United States, and not private vessels. In my mind "of" refers to "owned or controlled by" such as military ships, but considering when it was written I'm not sure what that wording would have meant back then. You could be right.

Even as far back as things like the Whiskey Rebellion, we've lived with a false sense of what I think most people would consider true "freedom" from oppressive government. We just exchanged one mess for a new mess. As long as people have it in their minds that they can get together and exert control over others, "freedom" will never exist.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

I think that the way you describe things is probably, in a de facto sense, how things were back then. Any private individual could probably lay down a ship in water and do whatever they wished with it. I guess I am wondering to myself if it was a situation where such private ships were "sailing without registration" and would be subject to the 100$ fine if caught, or if this truly only applied to those ships under administrative control of the united states. If it only applies to seamen employed by the united states government, then it is not quite so revolutionary a concept as I have presented here...

I mean, you have to fly colors when you sail, right? So are you "of" the united states if you fly those colors? It is unclear from the above text and I would have to spend some more time searching for this.

You make an astute point brining up the Whiskey Rebellion, it was made very clear early on that constant revolution would not be tolerated, jefferson's hopes of every 20 years was optimistically naive and he did not ensure that the framework for this existed.