Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Sec[Section] 1^st Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the general assembly, that the School commissioner of Morgan County be & he is hereby autherised and required to pay William Spencer of Said County the sum of seventy five dollars out of the monies which arose from the sale of Section Sixteen in Township N^o thirteen north and range N^o nine west of the third principal meridian3, or out of any other monies in the hands of Such County commissioner belonging to the aforesaid Township, in full compensation for damages Sustained by the aforesaid William Spencer by the Sale of Said Sixteenth Section.4

This act to take effect from and after its passage.

[ certification ]
12/17/1834
Prickett, David (Pricket)

Passed H. R. Dec^r 17. 1834
D. Prickett clk.[clerk] H. R

<Page 2>

[ docketing ]
H. R.
A Bill for an act for the relief of William Spencer

[ docketing ]
12/19/1834
Referred to com.[committee] on Judiciary
Mr Ewing

[ docketing ]
[12]/[16]/[1834]
Engrossed

1John Wyatt introduced HB 28 in the House of Representatives on December 12, 1834. On December 15, the House referred it to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill without amendment on December 16. The House passed the bill on December 17. On December 19, the Senate referred it to the Committee on the Judiciary. On January 5, 1835, the Committee on the Judiciary issued a report and recommended rejection of the bill. The Senate concurred with the Committee’s recommendation. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 107, 121, 123, 132, 238; Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 107, 111, 116, 182-85.

2An act titled “An Act for Relief of a Person Therein Named” passed the Senate on February 13, 1835, and may have been a subsequent version of this bill.

3Near the southeast corner of Morgan County.

4According to the Senate’s report on the bill, “Spencer purchased an improvement on section numbered sixteen . . . from one Ambrose Youngblood, for the sum of seventy-five dollars—that the section was subsequently brought into market and sold by James Evans, Esq.” Spencer desired that the $75 he believed he was owed would be paid “out of the funds of the township.” The Senate rejected the bill because they did not consider the state legislature authorized to force a township to refund such money because section 16 of every township was designated for schools. The Senate further stated that Spencer must have known he was buying property on a 16th section and therefore Youngblood could not have sold the land in the first place. Finally, the Senate believed the improvement in question was worth only $45.
Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 183-84.