Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 31, 1835.

AN ACT changing an Appropriation heretofore made to the county commissioners’ court of Vermilion county, to the county commissioners’ court of Champaign county, and for other purposes.
1

Preamble

Whereas, by an act of the Legislature of this State, entitled “An act appropriating a portion of the avails arising from the sale of the Saline Lands in Gallatin county to internal improvement,” approved February 16th, 1831,2 the sum of four hundred dollars was appropriated to the county commissioners’ court of Vermilion county; and whereas, since the granting of said appropriation, the county of Champaign has been organized out of the aforesaid county of Vermilion, including, in the aforesaid county of Champaign, the point or place upon which said four hundred dollars was expressly required to be expended: Therefore—

County commissioners of Champaign county authorized to draw on the commissioner of Gallatin salines for $400.

How expended.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the county commissioners’ court of Champaign county be, and they are hereby authorized to draw upon the commissioner of the Gallatin Saline for the sum of four hundred dollars, to be

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by them expressly applied and expended in building a bridge across the south fork of the Big Vermilion river, where the State road crosses the same, leading from Danville to Fort Clark; and the commissioner of the Gallatin Saline is hereby required and authorized to pay to the order of the county commissioners’ court of Champaign county, the sum of four hundred dollars.3

County commissioners of Green county authorized to draw on the commissioner of Gallatin saline for $300.

How applied.

Sec. 2. That the commissioner of the Gallatin County Saline is hereby authorized to pay to the order of the county commissioners of Green county, or a majority of them, the sum of three hundred dollars, which sum was appropriated to the county of Green, by “An act appropriating a portion of the avails arising from the sales of the Saline lands in Gallatin county, to internal improvements,” approved February 16th, 1831, which appropriation, when realized by said county commissioners, shall be applied to the building of a bridge across Apple creek, at or near the mill now owned by David Haydon in Green county.4

County commissioners of Wabash county to draw on the commissioner of Gallatin salines for $400.

Sec. 3. That the said commissioner is hereby authorized to pay to the order of the county commissioners’ court of Wabash county, the sum of four hundred dollars, the sum appropriated in the aforesaid act, to be expended by them for purposes of internal improvement.5

Act repealed.

Sec. 4. That so much of the above recited act as appropriated the sum of four hundred dollars to the county commissioners’ court of Vermilion county, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

This act to be in force from and after its passage.6

Approved, Jan. 31, 1835.

1William Fithian introduced HB 96 in the House of Representatives on January 9, 1835. On January 12, the House referred it to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 13 without amendment. On January 14, the House again referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 16 with sundry amendments, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended on January 17. The Senate concurred on January 27. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 223, 254-55, 275, 284, 291, 307, 322, 411, 452, 460, 461; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 277, 287, 324, 353-354, 383, 390.

2Improving the means of transportation was one of the most vexing problems facing Antebellum Illinois. Funding the construction of roads, bridges, dams, and other public works proved challenging for the Illinois General Assembly. One of its early gambits was to petition Congress to allow the state to sell portions of the Saline Reserve Lands, using the money realized from the sale for public works. To this end, the General Assembly passed a resolution asking Congress to allow the state to sell 20,000 acres in Gallatin County. The original act in 1831 came in anticipation that Congress would acquiesce in the General Assembly’s request. Congress granted its permission to sell the 20,000 acres, and as of January 1841, agents had paid $9,956.50 into the State Treasury from such land sales. Of this sum, the state had distributed $8,408.08 to the different counties listed in the act.
“An Act Appropriating a Portion of the Avails Arising from the Sale of the Saline Lands, in Gallatin County, to Internal Improvement,” 16 February 1831, The Laws of Illinois (1831), 14-15; U.S. House Journal. 1830. 21st Cong., 2nd sess., 14 February 1831, 302; “Report of the Committee on the Salines and Saline Lands,” 12 January 1841, llinois Senate Reports. 1840. 12th G. A., 219.

3In 1837, the General Assembly passed an act that repealed portions of this section.

4This was to be in addition to the $300 the General Assembly appropriated to Greene County in the 1831 act, to be used at the discretion of the County Commissioners Court.
“An Act Appropriating a Portion of the Avails Arising from the Sale of the Saline Lands, in Gallatin County, to Internal Improvement,” 14.

5The original act authorized Wabash County to expend its $400 as follows: $100 to build a bridge across Bonpas Creek, where a state road leading from Mount Carmel to Maysville, crossed the same; $150 t0 repair said road, and $150 to repair and bridge such roads as the County deemed necessary. Of as January 1841, Wabash County had yet to received its appropriation. In a report to the Senate, Levi Davis, auditor of public accounts, affirmed that Wabash County would receive its appropriation out of money realized through future sales.
“An Act Appropriating a Portion of the Avails Arising from the Sale of the Saline Lands, in Gallatin County, to Internal Improvement,” 15; “Report of the Committee on the Salines and Saline Lands,” 219;Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 45, 155.

6The original act in 1831 authorized the County Commissioners’ Court of Vermilion County to expend the $400 on the bridge across the Big Vermilion River. HB 96 and its subsequent act transferred the appropriation and power to construct the bridge to the County Commissioners’ Court of Champaign County.
“An Act Appropriating a Portion of the Avails Arising from the Sale of the Saline Lands, in Gallatin County, to Internal Improvement,” 14.