Additional Rules Adopted by the House of Representatives of Illinois, [5 January 1839]1
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Lincoln’s rule
No 1
Lincoln’s rule
No 1
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[01]/[05]/[1839]
[01]/[05]/[1839]
adopted
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Rule—When any petition ^remonstrance or claim^ is presented by a member and such member may not desire its reading, he may make
the motion to dispense with its reading and ^ask its^ reference at the time of presentation– and the chair may consider the motion as agreed
to, unless some member should object and so state to the House4
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Lincoln’s rule No 2
Lincoln’s rule No 2
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[01]/[05]/[1839]
[01]/[05]/[1839]
adopted
1Although these rules are not in Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting, his rule proposed the day before, together with a similar addition proposed on December 11, 1834, suggests that he had a hand in their composition.
On January 4, 1839, Abraham Lincoln proposed an addition to the rules of the House of Representatives. The House amended the proposed rule by striking out the words “its engrossment
for the.” The House tabled the rule. On January 5, Lincoln introduced a further amended
version of the first rule together with a second rule. The House adopted both rules.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 167-68, 174.
2In Lincoln’s original version of the rule, the next words included “after its engrossment for the third reading,”
On January 4, the House of Representatives struck out “its engrossment for the.”
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 167.
3Lincoln’s original version of this rule read: “No bill shall be referred or amended after its engrossment for
the third reading, without the consent of two-thirds of the members present.”
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 167.
4There were fifty “Rules for the Government of the House of Representatives of the
State of Illinois,” at the start of the 1st session of the 11th General Assembly.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess.,
22-26.
Handwritten Document, 4 page(s), GA Session, 11-1, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL).