Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 7, 1835.

AN ACT to amend an act, entitled “An act to provide for the application of the interest of the fund arising from the sale of the School Lands belonging to the several townships in this State,” Approved, March 1, 1833.
1

Parts of said act repealed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the tenth section of the act to which this is an amendment, and so much of said act as provides for gratuitous instruction, be, and the same are hereby repealed.2

Act repealed.

Sec. 2. That the eleventh section of the said act, so far as it dispenses with a valuation of the sixteenth sections in the several townships,3 is hereby repealed; and the law requiring a valuation by trustees, is hereby revived.4

Trustees may lease school lands.

Sec. 3. That the trustees of school lands, or a majority of them, shall have power to lease any of said lands, from year to year, upon terms most conducive to the interest of the township.

Shall pay over rents to school commissioner.

Sec. 4. The trustees shall pay over to the School Commissioner all rents which they collect on leases as aforesaid.

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In case of lessee committing waste on said lands.

Sec. 5. If any lessee or lessees, his, her or their heirs or assigns, or any other person or persons, shall cut down or destroy any more wood or timber than may be necessary for the improvement and cultivation of the lot so leased, or shall do any damage to the said leased premises, or commit any waste thereon, every such lessee or lessees, or other persons, shall be liable to said trustees in an action for damages, commenced in the name of said trustees, and the said lessees shall moreover, upon conviction thereof, forfeit such lease.

Failing to pay rent.

Sec. 6. In all cases of a failure or refusal to pay the rent due and owing on any land leased under the provisions of this act, whenever the same shall become due, it shall and may be lawful for the trustees in their respective townships, to sue out a distress warrant, which shall be returned to the justice issuing the same, and the same proceedings shall be had thereon as in other cases of distress for rent.

Inhabitants of townships may associate themselves together for school purposes.

Sec. 7. Any number of inhabitants of any township may associate themselves together, and purchase a quantity of land not exceeding ten acres, and procure a conveyance of the same, to be made to the trustees of school lands in the township, by their corporate name, and erect thereon a school house, and make such other buildings and improvements thereon as they may deem necessary for the encouragement of learning and science generally, and such land and improvements shall be held by the said corporation for the use of the persons associating themselves together as aforesaid, and their successors and assigns forever; and shall not be applied to any other purpose, nor in any other manner than shall or may be directed by the persons associated as aforesaid.5

Approved, Feb. 7, 1835.

1On December 27, 1834, the Senate passed a resolution authorizing the Committee on Seminary, School Lands, and Education to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the distribution of the interest arising from the school fund for the establishment and promotion of common schools. In response to this resolution, Cyrus Edwards from the Committee on Seminaries, School Lands, and Education introduced SB 38 in the Senate on December 31. On January 2, 1835, the Senate referred it to the Committee of the Whole. On January 20, the Senate discharged the Committee of the Whole from further consideration. The Senate passed the bill on January 23. The House of Representatives passed the bill on February 6. On February 7, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 371, 383, 497, 498; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 144, 159, 172, 286, 317, 450, 453, 455, 460; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 385, 402, 410.

2Section ten allowed inhabitants of townships associating themselves together for the purpose of erecting school houses to borrow from the school commissioner any sum of money up to $200 at an annual interest rate of six percent.
“An Act to Provide for the Application of the Interest of the Fund Arising from the Sale of School Lands Belonging to the Several Townships in this State,” 1 March 1833, The Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 565.

3Sixteenth sections were set aside for public education under provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785.

4This might be a reference to an 1827 law, the seventh section of which authorized trustees to value and appraise improvements made on school lands.
“An Act relating to the School Lands,” 17 February 1827, The Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois (1827), 368; “An Act to Provide for the Application of the Interest of the Fund Arising from the Sale of School Lands Belonging to the Several Townships in this State,” 565-66.

5This section appears to supplant section ten of the 1833 act. In March 1837, the General Assembly passed an act extending this section. In December 1835, the House of Representatives considered and rejected a bill that would have amended several sections of this act.
“An Act to Provide for the Application of the Interest of the Fund Arising from the Sale of School Lands Belonging to the Several Townships in this State,” 565.