In force Jan.[January] 31, 1835.
AN ACT supplemental to an act to Incorporate such persons as may associate for the
purposes of procuring and erecting Public Libraries in this State, approved, January 31, 1833.
1Debating societies may become incorporated.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be lawful for any number of
persons, not less than ten, in any part of this State, who shall associate themselves together, and form a constitution and by-laws for
the regulation of such society, for the purpose of debating or other literary pursuits,
to apply, and obtain from under the seal of the county commissioners’ court of the proper county, a certificate of incorporation, agreeable to the provisions
of the second section of the act to which this is a supplement, and when so incorporated,
they and their successors shall have all the rights and privileges of any incorporation
formed under the provisions of the above recited act.
May form their own constitutions and by-laws.
Sec. 2. All and every debating or literary society, formed and incorporated under the provisions
of this act, shall, and may form their own constitution and by-laws, and may regulate their own mode of proceedings, without appointing trustees or any
other officers, than such as they may think proper; but none of the by-laws formed by any such society, shall be contrary to any law of this State, or of the United States.2
Approved, Jan. 31, 1835.
1William Gordon from the Committee on Education introduced HB 69 in the House of Representatives on January 2, 1835. On January 5, the House referred it to a select committee.
The select committee reported back the bill on January 17 without amendment. The
House passed it on January 19. The Senate concurred on January 27. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
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), 202, 211, 217-18, 323, 329, 411, 452, 460, 461;
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), 282, 294, 325, 354, 383, 390.
2Section one of the original act authorized persons wishing to building a library to
meet and elect directors or trustees who would handle the money of the corporation
and the affairs relative to the same. HB 69 and its companion act allowed subscribers to draw up a constitution and by-laws without
first appointing directors or trustees. The original act also did not include provision
for debating societies--an oversight remedied with HB 69.
“An Act to incorporate persons as may associate for the purpose of procuring and erecting
public Libraries in this state,” 31 January 1823, Laws Passed by the Third General Assembly of the State of Illinois (Vandalia, IL: Blackwell & Berry, 1823), 101-07.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their First Session (Vandalia, IL:
J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 181, GA Session: 9-1