Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 6, 1835.

AN ACT concerning Marks and Brands.
1

Act relating thereto revived.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly,2 That so much of the act, approved, March the 23d, 1829[1819], as relates to marks and brands, be, and the same is hereby revived,3 and shall be printed with the laws of the present General Assembly.4

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

Approved, Feb. 6, 1835.

1On December 29, 1834, the House of Representatives passed a resolution instructing the Committee of Propositions and Grievances to investigate the statute on marks and brands. In response to this resolution, Stinson H. Anderson from the Committee on Propositions and Grievances introduced HB 85 in the House on January 7, 1835. On January 8, the House referred the bill to a three-person select committee that included Abraham Lincoln. The select committee reported back the bill on January 17 with amendments, in which the House concurred. On January 19, the House amended the bill by adding a proviso. The House referred the bill and amendment to a second select committee, which reported back the bill on January 21 with amendments. The House tabled the bill and amendments. On January 22, the House took up the bill and amended the proviso. The House concurred in the select committee’s other amendments. Representatives proposed additional amendments, and the House referred the bill and proposed amendments to a third select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 23 with an amendment in the form of a substitute, in which the House concurred. The House passed the substitute bill on January 24. The Senate passed the bill on January 31. On February 6, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 177, 242, 253, 315, 330, 342, 355, 365-66, 376, 465; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 326, 350, 357, 392, 436, 441, 454; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 381, 398, 411.

2On January 23, 1835, the House of Representatives replaced the original bill with a substitute.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 365.

3Because settlers only slowly brought the Illinois prairie under cultivation, and sparse timber made the erection of extensive wooden fences impractical, farmers commonly turned livestock loose to graze freely on the prairies in mild weather. Even in more heavily wooded areas of southern Illinois, farmers allowed hogs to forage freely. These livestock practices required established marks and brands and rules for claiming ownership of roaming animals. Open-range methods of livestock raising were common into the 1850s and in some areas continued into the 1870s, when the advent of inexpensive, durable barbed wire made possible the fencing of large tracts of grazing land, and greater corn production allowed farmers to feed hogs in pens.
Paul C. Henlein, Cattle Kingdom in the Ohio Valley, 1783-1860 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959), 19, 62-64; Allan G. Bogue, From Prairie to Corn Belt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 73-79, 140.

4The original bill included the same language as is found in Section 15 of “An Act respecting Crimes and Punishments,” from 1819. The substitute simply revived that section of the 1819. The original 1819 text was not reprinted in the volume of laws from the 1835 session.
“An Act respecting Crimes and Punishments,” 23 March 1819, Laws Passed by the First General Assembly, of the State of Illinois (1819), 218-19.