Petition by 10 Hoboken residents to the Hoboken City Council Hoboken regarding use of $48,000 in city treasury to provide volunteers for military duty, June 4, 1864.
Petition by 10 Hoboken residents to the Hoboken City Council Hoboken regarding use of $48,000 in city treasury to provide volunteers for military duty, June 4, 1864.
Entry/Object ID
2013.069.0021
Scope and Content
Petition by ten Hoboken residents to the Council of the City of Hoboken regarding use of $48,000 in city treasury to provide volunteers for military duty, June 4, 1864.
Single leaf with printed text; holographic signatures and addresses of petitioners. Full text is in notes.
Acquisition
Accession
2013.069
Source or Donor
Maier, Estate of Robert
Acquisition Method
Gift
Credit Line
Gift of Estate of Robert Maier by sister, Michelle Maier.
Archive Details
Date(s) of Creation
1864 - 1864
Archive Notes
Date(s) Created: 1864
Date(s): 1864
General Notes
Note
Notes: Archives 2013.069.0021
To the Council of the City Hoboken
The undersigned, residents of the city of Hoboken, respectfully represent: That they have been informed by your honorable body that about the sum of Forty-eight thousand dollars remains in the City Treasury, which was procured for the purpose of securing volunteers to fill the quota of our city, and thereby prevent the draft which has lately taken place, and that under the provisions of the Act enabling you to obtain this money you have no authority to pay it over to drafted men or substitutes.
Your petitioners further represent, that they believe it to be the intention of the said Act, THAT THIS MONEY SHOULD BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF FURNISHING MEN to the Government; that by an indiscriminate distribution of said money among all the drafted men, they will be encouraged to pay commutation fees, rather than to enter the service themselves, or by substitutes. Your petitioners further represent, that it would be unjust and against the spirit of the law to put those who stay at home on an equal footing with those who either join the army themselves or actually obtain others to serve in their place ; that an early repetition of the draft would be sure to follow after such useless expenditure of the money; that the citizens would be subjected to unnecessary hardships ; and that by following such a course, you would bring upon yourselves a personal responsibility of the gravest character.
Your petitioners therefore represent, that the only course open to you is to distribute this money among such drafted men as will either join the army or will provide substitutes to serve in their place, and would recommend such a course to be pursued by your honorable body.
For the purpose of relieving your honorable body from the responsibility incurred by such a disposition of the money, your petitioners do hereby agree to aid and assist you in any application which may be made by you to the next Legislature for the approval of a law ratifying and confirming its expenditure in the manner above petitioned for ; and we do hereby consent that this application may be used as a petition presented by us to the Legislature for that object.
And your petitioners will ever pray, etc.
Dated June 4, 1864.
Status: OK
Status By: dw
Status Date: 2013-12-23
