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Mayfields of South Carolina
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General Duty Act of 1761 The General Duty Act was passed in July 1761 and it encouraged mass immigration to South Carolina between 1761 and 1768. The exact wording of the Act is missing from the published volumes of South Carolina colonial legislation; however, a copy was published in 1761 in THE SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE newspaper as follows: In
the Commons House of Assembly, the 25th Day of July 1761. ORDERED, That the Act, entitled "An Act for repealing 'An Act Passed the 7th Day of October, in the Year of our Lord 1752, for altering and amending the 6th and 7th Paragraphs of the Act commonly called THE GENERAL DUTY ACT; and for appropriating and applying three-fifths of the Tax appropriated and applied by the said 6th and 7th Paragraphs of the said last mentioned Act, as is herein after mentioned' be printed in both of the Gazettes of this Province: And, that the Clerk of this House do give each of the Printers a Copy of the said Act for that purpose. THOMAS
BRONLEY, Clerk WHEREAS
the encouragement heretofore given to poor protestants to become settlers in
this province, hath not had the desired effect; and inasmuch as there remained
in the treasury on the twenty ninth day of September last, of the tax
appropriated by the general duty law for that purpose, a sum of FIFTY-SEVEN
THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED, AND SEVENTY-FIVE POUNDS, ELEVEN SHILLINGS, AND THREE
PENCE, whereby the public is enabled to increase the bounty to such settlers
which may best answer the said good intentions, We therefore humbly pray his
most sacred Majesty, that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the Honourable
WILLIAM BULL; Esquire, Lieutenant-Governour
and Commander in Chief of the Province of South-Carolina, by and with the advice
and consent of his Majesty's Council, and the Commons House of Assembly of the
said province, and by the authority of the same, That the said Three-fifths of
tax, appropriated and applied by the said law as an encouragement to protestants
to become settlers in this province, shall henceforth be and is hereby
appropriated and applied in the following manner, that is to say, FOR PAYMENT OF
THE SUM OF FOUR POUNDS STERLING, or the value thereof in the current money of
this province, to discharge and defray THE EXPENSE OF THE PASSAGE FROM EUROPE OF
EVERY FREE POOR PROTESTANT WHO HATH NOT ALREADY RECEIVED ANY BOUNTY FROM THIS
PROVINCE, AND WHO SHALL ARRIVE IN THIS PROVINCE TO SETTLE, FROM EUROPE, WITHIN
THREE YEARS FROM THE TINE OF PASSING THIS ACT, ABOVE THE AGE OF TWELVE YEARS;
AND WHO SHALL IN CASE THEY COME FROM GREAT-BRITAIN OR IRELAND, PRODUCE A
CERTIFICATE UNDER THE SEAL OF And
be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the money hereby directed
to be paid for the passages of the said poor protestants, shall be paid by the
Public-Treasurer of this province, to the owner or master of the vessel in which
they shall be brought into this province, unless he shall previously be paid by
such poor protestants, to whom respectively, in such case, the same shall be
paid; That the other bounty aforesaid shall be paid to the said poor FREE
protestants, upon their demanding the same. And
be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said act, passed the
seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord 1752, for altering and amending
the sixth and seventh paragraphs of the Act commonly called THE GENERAL DUTY
ACT; And also the said sixth and seventh paragraphs of the said other act,
commonly called the General Duty Act, as far as the same relate to the applying
and appropriating the said Three-fifths of the tax thereby imposed on Negroes,
and other slaves, and every matter and thing therein contained, be, from and
after the passing of this act, absolutely repealed and vacated, to all intents
and purposes whatsoever. In
the Council Chamber, the 25th day of July, 1761. BENJ.
SMITH, Speaker. Assented to: WILLIAM BULL.
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