Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

A Bill to Establish a State Road from Petersburg in Menard County, to Waverly in Morgan County, [10 January 1840]1

A bill for anct an act to establish a state road from Petersburg in Menard county to Waverly in Morgan county 2

Sec[Section]: 1^st Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly: That John B. Broadwell, John J. Lemon ^Franklin Minor^3and Achilles Morris, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view mark, and locate a state road from Petersburg in Menard county by way of John B. Broadwell’s, and Berlin, New Berlin ^and^ the rail road depot in Sangamon county to Waverly in Morgan county—4

Sec. 2^nd That said commissioners or a majority of them shall meet at Petersburgh on the first monday of March next, ^or any time within sixty days thereafter—^ and after being first duly sworn, shall proceed to locate said said road, avoiding as much as possible all injury to private property—

Sec: 3^rd That said commissioners shall make out a separate report of so much of the location of said road as lies in each of said counties, and file the same with the clerk of the county commissioners court of the proper county—

Sec: 4^th That said commissioners shall have such compensations out of the Treasuries of said counties as shall be just and reasonable—5

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Lincoln, Abraham (President)

A bill for an act to establish a state road from Petersburg in Menard county to Waverly in Morgan county—

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[01]/10/[1840]
Jany 10 1840
Cloud
Lincoln
Nance

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[01]/[17]/[1840]
Ord[ordered] to be Engrossed for 3^d Reading—

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[01]/[12]/[1840]
12
59
refd to Sel. Com.[referred to Select Committee]
7

1Abraham Lincoln wrote the text of the majority of this bill as well as the bill’s title on page two. The name “John I. Lemon” in section one was deleted, and the name “Franklin Minor” inserted, not in Lincoln’s hand.

2On January 9, 1840, Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives presented a petition of citizens of Sangamon and Menard, and the House referred the petition to a three-person select committee which included Lincoln. In response to this petition, Lincoln of the select committee on January 10 introduced HB 117 in the House. On January 13, Lincoln made a motion that the bill be read a second time by its title, and the House referred the bill to a three-person select committee which included Lincoln. On January 17, the select committee reported back the bill with several amendments, in which the House concurred. On January 27, the House passed the bill as amended. On January 30, the Senate passed the bill. On February 1, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 139, 146, 164, 192, 227, 260, 306, 322; Illinois Senate Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 190, 217.

3The House of Representatives passed an amendment on January 17, 1840, substituting Franklin Minor for John I. Lemon.

4State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.

5On January 17, 1840, the House of Representatives adopted an amendment adding an additional clause to this section. It also adopted an amendment adding a fifth and sixth section. These amendments would appear in the act that became law.