A Bill to Amend the Act Incorporating Agricultural Societies, [29 January 1841]1
An act to amend the act incorporating agricultural societies.
Be it enacted by the People of the state of Illinois Represented in General Assembly
Sec.[Section] 1. That it shall be the duty of the County commissioners Court of each and every County in this State (when an agricultural society shall not have been incorporated under the act to which this is an amendent) to conven[e] the people as therein directed for the purposes therein spesified, in the year eighteen hundred and forty one, and in each year thereafter until a society shall be organized in each County of the State.2
sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of each society organized under the law of this state to report the agricultural statistics of their county to the Auditor of Public accounts on or before the day of in each year.3
sec. 3. Upon the filing of such report in the Auditors office, it shall be the duty of the Auditor to issue his warrant in favour of the society for Twenty dollars, which the society shall convert into two premiums of ten dollars each— an[d] upon which shall be engraven, Illinois state Premium— One of which shall be presented to the person who shall be adjudged by the society, to have cultivated the five best acres of corn— and the other to the person— whom the society shall adjudge to
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have raised the five best acres of wheat, in their respective County. Provided always that nothing in this act shall prevent any citizen from competing for the State premiums in these ^his4^ respective County— 5whether he be a member of a county society or not—6
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No 83 H R
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A bill, for an act to amend the act incorporating agricultural societies
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[01]/[29]/[1841]
rea
ord Eng.[ordered to be Engrossed]
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17
1Abraham Lincoln wrote one interlineation and one full line of this document, marked in the text by footnotes.
James N. Brown introduced HB 144 in the House of Representatives on January 29, 1841. On February 11, the House amended the bill by filling in the first blank in the second section with “first” and the second blank with “December.” The House then passed the amended bill. On February 12, the Senate declined to read the bill a second time.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 296, 307, 370-71, 397; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 294, 308.
2The act to which this bill would have been an amendment did not require county commissioners’ courts to hold meetings every year for the citizens to vote on whether or not to organize a society; it simply specified that they were able to do so.
3On February 11, 1841, the House of Representatives filled in the blanks with “first” and “December,” respectively.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 371.
4Abraham Lincoln wrote this interlineation.
5Lincoln wrote the text from here to the end of the paragraph.
6Sections 2 and 3 of this bill contained provisions for circumstances not covered in the original Act.

Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Lincoln Collection, HB 144, GA Session 12-2, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL).