Archer G. Herndon introduced SB 116 in the Senate on January 15, 1841. On January 19, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on January 21, recommending its passage. The Senate tabled the bill by a vote of 18 yeas to 15 nays. On February 8, the Senate took up the bill, ordering it engrossed for a third reading by a vote of 30 yeas to 4 nays. The Senate passed the bill on February 10. On February 17, Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives proposed this amendment to the first section, which the House adopted. The House passed the bill as amended. The Senate concurred with the Lincoln amendment on February 27. On February 27, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.

Section one of the bill proposed to repeal provisions of the above articles and sections that required the mayor and aldermen of Springfield to be citizens of the United States. The original language of section one that Lincoln proposed to amend read: “and hereafter every Inhabitant of said City, who is entitled to vote for State Officers, and who has the other requisite qualifications mentioned in said Sections shall be eligable to the Offices of Mayor and Aldermen.”