Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

A Bill to Dissolve the Bonds of Matrimony between Nathaniel B. Martin, and Sarah Martin His Wife, [25 January 1840]1

A bill for an act to dissolve the bands of matrimony between Nathaniel B. Martin, and Sarah Martin his wife—2

Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois represented in the General Assembly: That the bands of matrimony existing between Nathaniel B. Martin and Sarah Martin, his wife, be, and they are hereby forever dissolved—3

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H. R.

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Lincoln, Abraham (President)

A bill for an act to dissolve the bands of matrimony between Nathaniel B. Martin and Sarah Martin his wife—

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[01]/[25]/[1840]
8
refd to Com on Jud

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[01]/[27]/[1840]
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ord[ordered] to be Engrossed

1Abraham Lincoln wrote the text of this bill as well as the bill’s title on page two. Sarah Martin’s petition has minor emendations in Lincoln’s hand.
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutger University Press, 1953), 1:198.

2On January 16, 1840, Abraham Lincoln introduced in the House of Representatives a petition from Mrs. Sarah Martin, requesting a divorce. The House, on Lincoln’s motion, referred the petition to a select committee which included Lincoln. In response to this petition, Lincoln introduced HB 232 in the House on January 25, and the House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. On January 27, the committee reported back the bill without amendment. On January 30, the House passed the engrossed bill. On January 25, the House requested that the Senate concur in the passage of the bill, but the Senate took no action.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 184, 250, 259, 294, 296; Illinois Senate Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 220.

3Although rare, legislative divorce was available in Illinois from 1818 until the Illinois Constitution of 1848, although there were no legislative divorces after 1838, when that body granted its last divorce by legislative act. After that time, all divorces in the state fell within the jurisdiction of the circuit courts.
Ill. Const. of 1848, art. III, § 32; “An Act concerning Divorces,” 1 June 1827, Revised Laws of Illinois (1827), 181-83.