Restoring Trade from and between Former Confederate States, Including Cotton Just 1 Month After Wars End

This circular letter from Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, issued just weeks after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, concerns the restoration of trade between the United States and the former Confederate states based on a series of regulations published on May 9. It urged collectors to allow the resumption of such commerce under "the most liberal construction of the law." The recipient of this copy was Charles Almy, the collector of the port of Fall River, Massachusetts.

[TREASURY DEPARTMENT.] Hugh McCulloch, Circular Letter, Printed Letter with Printed Signature, May 16, 1865. 1 p., 8" x 10". Includes handwritten note in margin, "Received May 30th, 1865." Pinholes in left margin for binding; very good.

Excerpts
"In the practical application of the Rules and Regulations concerning commercial intercourse with insurrectionary States, known as the Series of May 9, 1865, all officers acting thereunder are directed to cause as little annoyance as possible to parties interested in such commercial intercourse, and otherwise to carry out the purposes of the Executive in removing all the restrictions upon such commerce, that the most liberal construction of the law will permit."

"Collectors and others are directed to clear all goods not specifically declared contraband by the second section of said Regulations."

"While all such shipments must be under the supervision of an officer of the customs, where there are such, or other proper officer, to prevent the transportation of any articles declared contraband, no permit or other fee will be charged, except such as may be prescribed by law for the entrance or clearance of vessels."

"Where cotton, the product of an insurrectionary State, having been sold to and resold by a purchasing Agent of the Government, is offered for shipment, the certificate of such purchasing Agent only is required. If the cotton so offered is claimed and proved to be the product of person's own labor, or of freedmen or others employed and paid by them, the shipping fee of three cents per pound must be paid to the officer under whose supervision the shipment is made. If any products other than cotton are offered for shipment, the certificate of a Collector of Internal Revenue that the internal taxes prescribed by law have been duly paid thereon must be produced, before the shipment will be allowed."

Hugh McCulloch (1808-1895) was born in Maine and attended Bowdoin College. After studying law in Boston, he began a practice in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1833. He worked as a cashier and manager in the Bank of Indiana and eventually served as president of it and its successor from 1835 to 1863. McCulloch served as the first Comptroller of the Currency from 1863 to 1865. President Lincoln appointed him as Secretary of the Treasury in March 1865, and he held that position until the end of President Johnson's administration in March 1869. After he left office, he spent six years in England as a member of a banking firm. McCulloch again served as Secretary of the Treasury at the end of President Chester A. Arthur's term from October 1884 to March 1885.

Charles Almy (1819-1886) was born in Rhode Island and began teaching school at age 17. He later opened a country store but soon moved to Boston, where he became an auction and commission merchant. He participated in the business of whaling in New Bedford, Massachusetts, until the Civil War. He served as Collector of Customs at Fall River, Massachusetts, from 1861 to 1865. He joined the insurance business in 1864 and continued in that work until his death. Originally a Democrat, he became a Free Soiler in 1848 and then a Republican. In 1880, 1881, and 1882, he was the Prohibition Party candidate for governor.

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