Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Amendments to “A Bill to Divide the State into Judicial Circuits,” [21 February 1839]1

Amend by striking out "Ogle" from the Sixth Circuit and inserting it in the ninth—

Amend further by striking out the word "first" in the eighth line of the first section and inserting the word "eighth"

Amend further by striking out the word "eighth" in the twentieth line of the first section and inserting the word "first"

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[ docketing ]
02/21/1839
Am^ts Com Jud[Amendments Committee Judiciary]
1^st am^t[amendment] adopted
2^d & 3^d rejected
H R
21 Feby ^1839^

[ docketing ]
S B[Bill] 134

1These amendments were for SB 134, passed by the Senate on February 9, 1839. On February 21, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. Later that same day, the committee reported back the bill with these amendments, penned by Abraham Lincoln. The House adopted his first amendment moving Ogle County from the Sixth to the Ninth Judicial Circuit, but rejected the second and third amendments by a vote of 13 yeas to 52 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. These two failed amendments would have switched the names of the First and Eighth Judicial Circuits, making Lincoln’s home circuit, where he lived and practiced law, the First Judicial Circuit. The amendment moving Ogle County would become part of the act that became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 472, 474; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 304-305.