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 commissioners of the School fund2 be and they are hereby required to draw for, and receive the amont of the School fund belonging to this State and now deposited in the branch of the United States’ bank at S^t Louis, and deposite the same in the treasury of this State.

Sec. 2^sd That so soon as the said moneys shall have been paid into the State treasury, the Auditor of public accounts shall draw his warrant in favour of the commissioners of the school fund, for the full amount of said money, which warrant shall bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum

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H. R.
A Bill for “an act, concerning the school fund.

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[01]/[26]/[1835]
Rejected

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[01]/[24]/[1835]
Engrossed

1John D. Whiteside from the Committee on Finance, to which the House of Representatives referred a resolution of the House in relation to the School Fund deposit in the branch of the U.S. Bank at St. Louis, introduced HB 113 in the House on January 15, 1835. On January 16, the House referred it to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 19 without amendment. Representatives proposed additional amendments, and the House referred the bill and proposed amendments to the Committee of the Whole. On January 20, the Committee of the Whole reported back the bill with an amendment, and the House referred the bill, proposed amendments, and the Committee’s report to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 24 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. On January 26, the House rejected the bill 28 to 22, Abraham Lincoln voting in the affirmative.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 295, 308, 327, 339, 370, 384.

2When Ohio and Indiana became states, Congress earmarked five percent of the net proceeds of all future sales of government lands within those states for the construction of roads and canals. In 1818, when Congress passed the act enabling the Illinois Territory to become a state, Nathaniel Pope successfully argued that the proceeds from sales of government lands in Illinois should be earmarked for education rather than infrastructure. Upon statehood, Congress granted to Illinois three percent of the net proceeds of all federal land sales in the state to be used exclusively for education; this became known as the “three percent fund”. Congress additionally granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale of land in each township’s Section 16. This money became known as the common school fund. Congress specified that one-sixth of the three percent fund was to be used for the establishment of a college or university; this became known as the “college fund.” Congress furthermore specified that the proceeds from the sales of land in two entire townships would be reserved for a seminary of learning; this became known as the “seminary fund.”
“An Act to Enable the People of the Illinois Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States,” 18 April 1818, Statutes at Large of the United States, 3:428-31; W. L. Pillsbury, “Early Education in Illinois,” in Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1886), 106-07.