REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONS.

PENSIONS FOR WIDOWS.

ACT OF JULY 4, 1836.

This act provides pensions to the widows of those persons who served in the war of the revolution, in the manner specified in the act of June 7, 1832, whose marriage took place before the expiration of the last period of his service.

WIDOWS' PENSION ACT OF JULY 4, 1836. AN ACT granting half-pay to widows or orphans, where their husbands or fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United States, in certain cases, and for other purposes.

APPROVED, JULY 4, 1836. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any officer, noncommissioned officer, musician, soldier, Indian spy, mariner or marine, whose service during the revolutionary war was such as is specified in the act passed the seventh day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, entitled “ An act supplementary to the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution," have died since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, and before the date of said act, the amount of pension which would bave accrued from the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, to the time of his death, and become payable to him by virtue of that act, if he had survived the passage thereof, shall be paid to his widow; and if he left no widow, to his children, in the manner prescribed in the act hereby amended.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That if any person who served in the war of the revolution in the manner specified in the act passed the seventh day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, entitled “ An act supplementary to the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution,” have died, leaving a widow whose marriage took place before the expiration of the last period of his service, such widow shall be entitled to receive, during the time she may remain unmarried, the annuity or pension which might have been allowed to her husband, by virtue of the act aforesaid, if living at the time it was passed.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That any pledge, mortgage, sale, assignment, or transfer of any right, claim, or interest in any money or half-pay granted by this act, shall be utterly void and of no effect ; each person acting for and in behalf of any one entitled to money under this act, shall take and subscribe an oath, to be administered by the proper accounting officers and retained by him and put on file, before a warrant shall be delivered to him, that he has no interest in said money by any pledge, mortgage, sale, assignment, or transfer, and that he does not know or believe that the same has been so disposed of to any person whatever.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War shall adopt such forms of evidence, in applications under this act, as the President of the United States shall prescribe.

In case the widow of a revolutionary soldier married after his death, she could not claim under this act, although she was a widow at the date of its passage.

This objection was removed by the following act passed March 3, 1837, viz.:

AN ACT explanatory of the act entitled “ An act granting half-pay to widows and orphans, where their husbands and fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United Stales, and for other purposes."

APPROVED, MARCH 3, 1837. Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, the benefits of the third section of the act entitled “ An act granting half-pay to widows and orphans where there husbands and fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United States, and for other purposes, approved the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, shall not be withheld from any widow in consequence of her having married after the decease of the husband, for whose services she may claim to be allowed a pension or annuity under said act: Provided, That she was a widow at the time it was passed.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, the widow of any person who continued in the service of the United States until the third day of November, seventeen hundred and eighty-three, and was married before that day, and while her husband was in such service, shall be entitled to the benefits of the third section of the aforesaid act.

Under the third section of the act of 4th July, 1836, a widow cannot receive its benefits in case the officer or soldier, on account of whose service she claims, was living at the date of its passage. This objection was removed by the act of July 7, 1838, viz:

A resolution for the benefit of the widows of certain revolutionary officers and soldiers.

APPROVED, JULY 7, 1838.

Resolved by the Senute and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, the benefits of the third section of an act entitled “ An act granting half pay to widows or orphans where their husbands and fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United States in certain cases, and for other purposes," approved the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, shall not be withheld from any widow whose husband has died since the passage of the said act, or who shall

hereafter die, if said widow shall otherwise be entitled to the same.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, &c.-1. Under the 3d section of the act of the 4th July, 1836, the widows and orphans of officers and soldiers, who had died of wounds received in the military service, or may, after the passage of the said act, die in consequence of such wounds, are entitled to the pension provided by that act. 2. The same is extended to the widows of officers who were living when the act of 7th June, 1832, was passed.

The children of a widow who was living on the 4th July, 1836, and was entitled to the benefit of the 3d section of the act of that date, can draw the amount due up to the date of her death, although she failed to apply.

In all cases where the husband was in the receipt of a pension under any of the revolutionary pension acts, until the time of his death, the pension of the widow, under the act of the 4th July, 1836, can only commence from the date of her husband's death.

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, April 13, 1837.

SIR: I proceed to state my opinion on the several questions arising on the act of the 4th of July, 1836, “granting half-pay to widows or orphans where their husbands and fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United States, in certain cases, and for other purposes," submitted in the communication of the Commissioner of Pensions, referred to me by your letter of the 24th ultimo.

"1. Whether the 3d section provides for the widows of officers and soldiers who have died since the 4th of July last ?"

In my opinion, it does not. The words used in the 3d section, "if any person who, &c., have died," in their grammatical sense, do not extend to future cases, and it must be presumed that Congress intended to use them appropriately; especially when it is perceived that in the first section the second future" shall have died" is used-evidently with intent to embrace not only past cases, but those which might afterwards occur.

"2. Whether it extends to the widows of officers who were living at the time when the act of June 7th, 1832, passed ?"

With some hesitation, I think it most agreeably to the general spirit of this law to answer this question in the affirmative. The main enacting part of the section is broad enough to embrace all persons who served in the manner specified, who died before the passing of the act; and though the concluding words, "if living at the time it [the law of 1832] was passed" are calculated to excite doubts as to the real intent of Congress, yet they are not, perhaps, sufficiently strong to limit the comprehensive language of the former part of the provision.

“3. Can the children of a widow, who was living on the 4th of July last, and was entitled to the benefits of the 3d section of the act, now draw the amount due up to the day of her death, although she failed to apply ?"

According to several opinions heretofore given in this office, especially in navy pension cases, the right of the widow under the act is to be regarded as a vested interest accruing on the passage of the law, and not defeated by the omission to apply for it; and it goes, as such, on her death, to her personal representative: there being no special provision in the law giving it a different direction.

4. I am of opinion that, in all cases where the husband was in the receipt of a pension under any of the revolutionary pension acts, until the time of his death, the pension of the widow, under the act of the 4th of July, 1836, can only commence from the date of her husband's death. This is evidently the general principle of the law; and by this construction there will be no occasion to make deductions, nor will any of the difficulties arise which have been suggested by the Commissioner.

5. The construction given to the 3d section, in respect to widows who have married since the death of the husband performing the service, as stated by the Commissioner, was, in my judgment, the correct one; but, by the explanatory act of the 3d ultimo, the benefits of the provisions are extended to such persons. To the SECRETARY OF WAR.

B. F. BUTLER.

Pension of a husband not to be deducted in certain cases.

War DeparTMENT, PENSION OFFICE, July 24, 1837. Sir: I have the honor to state the following case for your decision :

Catharine Oakley, formerly Catharine See, was married to William Douglass in 1778, and at different periods, before and after the marriage, he served nine months, for which service she is entitled to a pension under the 3d section of the act of July 4th, 1936. But, after the death of Douglass, she married on the 1st of March, 1832, a pensioner named William Oakley, who died on the 2d November, 1835. As by the decision of the department, in conformity with the opinion of the Attorney General, the widow of a person who was a revolutionary pensioner, and who died after the 4th March, 1831, cannot be allowed to draw from an earlier period than the day of his death, it would seem to establish the principle that the widow who may become a pensioner cannot draw