In force Feb.[February] 14, 1835.
AN ACT for the benefit of Bank Debtors.
1Intererest and part of principal remitted.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That every person indebted to the State Bank, (cashiers, purchasers of Bank property and collectors, excepted,) shall be allowed
to pay such debt or debts in three annual instalments, and that all interest now due,
and twenty-five per cent. of the principal, shall be remitted.2
Persons desirous of taking benefit of this act, how to proceed.
Sec. 2. That all persons desirous of taking the benefit of
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this act, shall apply to the Treasurer of the State, or any other collector or agent of the said State Bank, and cancel all obligations of indebtedness subsisting between such persons and the
Bank, by giving their promissory notes, under seal, with approved security, payable as
provided in the first section of this act, to the Governor of the State for the use of the people of the State; and all promissory notes or other obligations thus executed, shall be in consideration
of the forbearance and indulgence herein extended, and no plea to the consideration
or the constitutionality of the Bank, shall be considered valid in law or received in any court, before which actions
may be brought for the recovery of the debts or obligations hereby created.3Approved, Feb. 13, 1835.
1William L. D. Ewing introduced SB 72, originally titled “A Bill Supplementary to ‘An Act to Establish an Uniform Mode of Holding Circuit Courts,’ Approved January 7, 1835,” in the Senate on January 26, 1835. The Senate tabled the bill. On January 28, the Senate referred
the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported
back the bill on February 12 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The
Senate passed the bill as amended, amending the title so as to read “A Bill for the
Benefit of Bank Debtors.” On February 12, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding after the word “cashiers” in the first section the words
“purchasers of Bank property.” The House passed the bill as amended by a vote of
21 yeas to 18 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The Senate concurred in the House amendment on the same day. On February
13, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 543, 546-47, 560, 562, 564, 566;
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 329, 357, 504, 507, 519, 522, 528.
2On January 12, 1835, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding “purchasers of Bank property.”
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 546.
3Earlier in the same session, the House of Representatives had rejected another relief bill. These relief bills related to debts owed the State Bank of Illinois as it operated under its second charter, 1821-1831. Earlier in the same session,
the General Assembly also passed an act re-incorporating the bank.
Charles H. Garnett, “State Banks of Issue in Illinois” (essay, University of Illinois,
1898), 9-21.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their First Session (Vandalia, IL:
J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 67-68, GA Session: 9-1