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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 |