Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan. 7, 1835.

AN ACT to locate a State Road from Shelbyville to Chicago.
1

Commissioners appointed to locate said road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That George H. Beeler of Shelby county, A. H. Kelly2 of Macon county, Philip Stanford of Champaign county, Robert Hill of Iroquois county, and Hiram Pearson of Cook county, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, survey and locate a State road, to commence at Shelbyville in Shelby county, thence to Chicago in Cook county, or to intersect the Chicago and Vincennes road at or near where it crosses the Iroquois river, if the commissioners see proper.

When and where to meet.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet in the town of Shelbyville on the first Monday in June next, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and first being duly sworn before some justice of the peace faithfully to perform the duties required by this act, shall proceed to view, mark and locate said road on the nearest and best possible route from point to point, taking into considera-

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tion the public convenience, utility and economy, so as to make the same a permanent road.

Shall make report.

Compensation.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall, on or before the first Monday of July next, make out a report of their proceedings to the county commissioners’ courts of the several counties through which said road shall pass, signed by each of said commissioners, with the number of days they were employed in locating said road, and said commissioners shall receive one dollar and fifty cents per day for every day they may be necessarily employed in locating said road, to be paid out of the County Treasuries of the several counties through which said road may pass.

Declared a State road.

Sec. 4. When the said road shall have been located and the reports filed as aforesaid, it shall be, and is hereby declared a State road, and shall be opened thirty feet wide, and kept in repair as other State roads are in this State: Provided, however, if the said commissioners think proper to intersect the Chicago and Vincennes State road as provided in the first section of this act, it shall not be necessary for the said commissioners to locate that part of said road which lies between Chicago and the point where the said road shall intersect the aforesaid State road.

This act to be in full force and virtue from and after its passage.

Approved, Feb.[February] 7, 1834.

1Thomas B. Trower introduced HB 77 in the House of Representatives on January 5, 1835. On January 27, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 28 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended on January 29. On January 30, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 31 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended on February 2. The House concurred in the Senate amendment on February 3. On February 7, 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), 193, 221, 236, 403, 414, 434, 473, 497, 498; 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), 378-79, 385, 400, 404, 419, 454, 460; Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at their Second Session, Begun and Held in Pursuance of the Proclamation of the Governor, in the Town of Vandalia, December 7, 1835 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 374, 410.

2“A. H. Kelly” might be a reference to Abraham H. Keller (Kellar).
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), I:264; John W. Smith, History of Macon County, Illinois(Springfield, IL: Rokker’s, 1876), 36; Combined History of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia, PA: Brink, McDonough, 1881), 222.