Massachusetts. General Court. Committee on Accounts. Account rolls, 1786-1862.
Title:
Account rolls, 1786-1862.
Successive committees of the House of Representatives were appointed to receive, examine, and pass upon accounts submitted for payment for purchases and services approved by the Revolutionary Massachusetts General Court. From 1780, a joint standing committee of both houses of the Constitutional General Court (by at least 1782 known as the Committee on Accounts) performed the same function. Approved accounts were forwarded to the Council (for concurrence as of 1776), which issued warrants for payment by the Treasury. In 1786 (Resolves 1786, Sep Sess, c 128), the committee settled on an established procedure of making out a roll of all accounts that they had examined and approved, and submitting it to the General Court, at least once per legislative session. The General Court approved the roll by a resolve requesting a Council warrant to permit payment of all the accounts within the roll. Each roll was given a number, and items within were often numbered individually as well. Accounts were categorized by type within the roll starting with 23 (Resolves 1792, May Sess, c 15); they were submitted in pounds through roll 31 (1795), thereafter in dollars. With roll 124 (1849), the newly-created office of Auditor of Accounts assumed committee functions in approving rolls, although the roll system continued through 1853 (roll 127). From 1830 (per Resolves 1829, c 11) rolls other than for paupers or militia had been audited by the state treasurer, and from 1831 militia rolls had been additionally audited by the adjutant general. Series consists of the rolls resulting from committee examination and approval of accounts. For accounts themselves, including a full description of their content, see: Account roll submissions ((M-Ar)9X). Subseries (1) is the original listing of accounts gathered and submitted by the Committee on Accounts for the purpose of legislative approval, i.e., the resolve approving the issuing of a warrant by the Council to pay for the specified roll. Rolls are signed by the House Speaker, Senate president, and governor, on behalf of the Council. Subseries (2) contains finer versions of the same information, evidently compiled by the Treasury, along with signatures of individuals collecting reimbursements. The official warrant approving the release of monies by the state treasurer is attached, often to the beginning of each roll. Some rolls have more that one warrant for different groups of records. Rolls 95-109 have notes indicating that not all details (e.g., names of individual paupers) have been copied from the original rolls. Subseries (3) consists of successors to numbered rolls; few entries are represented in: Account roll submissions (M-Ar)9X). In addition to continuing some established expense categories, rolls introduce new and/or temporary categories, with an emphasis on military expenses, such as bounties and armory rentals. Ultimately these rolls evolved into a series of military account rolls for the Civil War; there are also later account books for various town reimbursements (both groups uncataloged). Occasional payments to towns for pauper accounts are found, despite the construction of the state almshouses in Bridgewater, Monson, and Tewksbury in 1854. (Expenses for completing and furnishing almshouses are in the 1854 roll.) Other continuing expenses include militia, sheriffs, coroners, and newspapers. There are also payrolls for a wide range of state employees (officers), from governor to state secretary's messenger Lewis Hayden, 1859-1862, with employee signatures as required for payment. Occasional expenses include enlargement of the State House (1855), state reimbursement of destroyed cattle infected by pleuropneumonia (1860), and military accounts for the reception for the Prince of Wales (1860). For related state checkbooks see: Massachusetts. Treasury Dept. Checkbooks for state expenses, 1806-1872 ((M-Ar)2463X).
ArchivalResource:
9.3 cubic ft. (21 doc. boxes)
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