Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 19, 1835.

AN ACT to Incorporate the Colleges therein named.
1

Alton college of Illinois incorporated.

Number of trustees.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Hubbell Loomis, Benjamin F. Edwards, Stephen Griggs, George Smith, Enoch Long, Cyrus Edwards, and William Manning, and their successors, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, to be styled and known by the name of “The Trustees of the Alton College of Illinois,” and by that style and name to remain and have perpetual succession. The said college shall remain located at or near Upper Alton, in the county of Madison. The number of trustees shall not exceed fifteen, exclusive of the president, principal, or presiding officer of the college, who shall, ex-officio, be a member of the board of trustees; no other instructor shall be a member of the board of trustees. For the present, the above named individuals shall constitute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their discretion.

Illinois college incorporated.

Number of trustees.

Sec. 2. That Samuel D. Lockwood, William C. Posey, John P. Wilkinson, Theron Baldwin, John F. Brooks, Elisha Jenny, William Kirby, Asa Turner, John G. Bergen, John Tillson, jr., and Gideon Blackburn, and their successors, be, and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, by the name of “The Trustees of Illinois College,” and by that style and name to remain and have perpetual succession; the college shall remain permanently located in Morgan county; the number of trustees shall not exceed fifteen, exclusive of the president, principal, or presiding officer of the college, who shall, ex-officio, be a member of the board of trustees; no other instructor shall be a member of the board of trustees. For the present, the aforesaid individuals shall constitute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their discretion.

M’Kendreean college incorporated.

Number of trustees.

Sec. 3. That John Dew, Samuel H. Thompson, James Riggin, Nicholas Horner, George Lowe, Robert Moore, Theophilus M. Nichols, Joshua Barnes, Samuel Stites, David L. West, Nathan Horner, Joseph Faulks, Thornton Peoples, John S. Barger, Nathaniel M. M’Curdy, Anthony W. Casad, and Benjamin Hypes, and their successors, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, to be styled and known by the name of “The Trustees of the M’Kendreean College,” and by that style and name to remain and have perpetual succession; the said college shall remain located at or near Lebanon in the county of St. Clair; the number of trustees shall not exceed eighteen, exclusive of the president, principal, or presiding officer of the college, who shall, ex-officio, be a member of the board of trustees; no other instructor shall be a member of the

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board of trustees. For the present, the aforesaid individuals shall constitute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their discretion.

Jonesborough college incorporated.

Number of trustees.

Sec. 4. That B. W. Brooks, Augustus Rixleben, Winstead Davie, John S. Hacker, Daniel Spencer, Willis Willard, John W. M’Guire, Thomas Sams, James P. Edwards, John Baltzell, William C. Whitlock, and Isaac Bizzle, and their successors, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, to be styled and known by the name of “The Trustees of the Jonesborough College,” and by that style and name to remain and have perpetual succession; the said college shall remain located at or near Jonesborough, in the county of Union. The number of trustees shall not exceed fifteen, exclusive of the president, principal, or presiding officer of the college, who shall, ex-officio, be a member of the board of trustees; no other instructor shall be a member of the board of trustees. For the present, the aforesaid individuals shall constitute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their discretion.2

Objects of the foregoing incorporations.

Sec. 5. The object of said corporations shall be the promotion of the general interests of education, and to qualify young men to engage in the several employments and professions of society, and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life.

Nature of corporate powers.

Sec. 6. The corporate powers hereby bestowed, shall be such only as are essential or useful in the attainment of said object, and such as are usually conferred on similar bodies corporate, viz: To have perpetual succession, to make contracts, to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, to grant and receive by its corporate name, and to do all other acts as natural persons may; to accept, acquire, purchase or sell property, real, personal and mixed, in all lawful ways; to use, employ, manage, and dispose of all such property, and all money belonging to said corporation, in such manner as shall seem to the trustees best adapted to promote the objects aforementioned; to have a common seal, and to alter or change the same; to make such by-laws for its regulation as are not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States or of this State, and to confer on such persons as may be considered worthy, such academical or honorary degrees as are usually conferred by similar institutions.

Duties and powers of trustees.

Sec. 7. The trustees of the respective corporations shall have authority, from time to time, to prescribe and regulate the course of studies to be pursued in said colleges, and in the preparatory departments attached thereto; to fix the rate of tuition, room rent and other college expenses, to appoint instructors and such other officers and

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agents as may be needed in managing the concerns of the institution, to define their powers, duties and employments, to fix their compensation, to displace and remove either of the instructors, officers or agents, as said trustees shall deem the interest of the said colleges shall require, to fill all vacancies among said instructors, officers and agents, to erect necessary buildings, to purchase books and chemical and philosophical apparatus, and other suitable means of instruction, to put in operation a system of manual labor, for the purpose of lessening the expense of education and promoting the health of the students; to make rules for the general management of the affairs of the college, and for the regulation of the conduct of the students, and to add, as the ability of the said corporation shall increase and the interest of the community shall require, additional departments for the study of any or all of the liberal professions: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall authorize the establishment of a theological department in either of said colleges.3

Trustee being chosen president, former office vacated.

Sec. 8. If any trustee shall be chosen president of the college, his former place as trustee shall be considered as vacant, and his place filled by the remaining trustees. The trustees, for the time being, shall have power to remove any trustee from his office of trustee for any dishonorable or criminal conduct: Provided, That no such removal shall take place without giving to such trustee notice of the charges exhibited against him, and an opportunity to defend himself before the board, nor unless that two-thirds of the whole number of trustees, for the time being, shall concur in such removal. The trustees, for the time being, in order to have perpetual succession, shall have power, as often as a trustee shall be removed from office, die, resign or remove out of the State, to appoint a resident of this State to fill the vacancy in the board of trustees occasioned by such removal from office, death, resignation or removal from the State. A majority of the trustees, for the time being, shall be a quorum to do business.

College funds how applied.

Sec. 9. The trustees shall faithfully apply all funds by them collected, or hereafter collected, according to their best judgment, in erecting suitable buildings, in supporting the necessary instructors, officers and agents, in procuring books, maps, charts, globes, philosophical, chemical and other apparatus, necessary to aid in the promotion of sound learning in their respective institutions: Provided, That in case any donation, devise or bequest shall be made for particular purposes, accordant with the objects of the institution, and the trustees shall accept the same, every such donation, devise or bequest, shall be applied in conformity with the express condition of the donor or devisor: Pro

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vided, also, That lands donated or devised as aforesaid, shall be sold or disposed of as required by the twelfth section of this act.

Sec. 10. The treasurers of said colleges always, and all other agents, when required by the trustees, before entering upon the duties of their appointments, shall give bonds for the security of the corporation, in such penal sum and with such securities as the board of trustees shall approve; and all process against the said corporation, shall be by summons, and service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy with the treasurer of the college, at least thirty days before the return day thereof.

Open to all denominations of christians.

Sec. 11. The said colleges and their preparatory departments, shall be open to all denominations of christians, and the profession of any particular religious faith, shall not be required of those who become students; all persons, however, may be suspended or expelled from said institutions whose habits are idle or vicious, or whose moral character is bad.

Amount of real estate.

Sec. 12. The lands, tenements and hereditaments, to be held in perpetuity, in virtue of this act, by either of said corporations, shall not exceed six hundred and forty acres:4 Provided, however, That if donations, grants, or devises in land shall, from time to time, be made to either of said corporations over and above said six hundred and forty acres, which may be held in perpetuity as aforesaid, the same may be received and held by such corporation for the period of three years from the date of every such donation, grant or devise; at the end of which time, if the said lands over and above the said six hundred and forty acres, shall not have been sold by the said corporation, then, and in that case, the said lands so donated, granted or devised, shall revert to the donor, grantor, or the heirs of the devisor of the same.5

Approved, Feb. 9, 1835.

1On January 24, 1835, Thomas Mather introduced in the Senate a petition from trustees of Illinois College and Alton College, requesting that the General Assembly incorporate their institutions. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions and, ultimately, the legislature passed this bill. From the Committee on Petitions, Thomas Mather introduced SB 74 in the Senate on January 27, 1835. The Senate passed the bill 11 to 9 on February 2. On February 3, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 5 without amendment. On February 6, the House referred the bill to another select committee. The select committee reported back the bill with sundry amendments. The House voted 32 to 13 against striking out “Illinois” from “Illinois College,” Abraham Lincoln voting in the negative. The House also voted 33 to 12 against tabling the bill until July 4, Lincoln again voting in the negative. The House also voted 31 to 17 against adding a proviso binding the real and personal property of trustees for all contracts entered into on behalf of their institutions, Lincoln again voting in the negative. The House also voted 33 to 13 against adding a proviso prohibiting compensation for services rendered in said institutions for teaching poor children, Lincoln again voting in the negative. The House passed the bill as amended 30 to 18, Lincoln voting in the negative. On February 7, the House requested that the Senate return the bill to the House. The Senate voted 21 to 4 to table said request until July 4. The Senate approved the House amendments on February 7. On February 9, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 473, 499, 503, 507, 513; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 320, 344, 387, 401, 452, 458, 461, 467, 471, 474; Illinois House Journal. 1835 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 374, 376, 383, 402, 406-409, 414.

2This omnibus bill provided charters for four colleges with religious affiliations: Alton College (Shurtleff) for the Baptist Church, Illinois College for Presbyterian Church, McKendree College for the Methodist Church, and Jonesboro College for a Christian church, which was not included in the original bill. The report submitted by the committee on petitions in the Illinois Senate argued that “no one cause is more closely identified with the general welfare, than that of education” and more institutions of higher learning were needed in the state to “raise up scientific men.” The report also insisted that incorporation of said institutions would protect their assets and bolster their chances for long-term viability and success; and success of these colleges would assist in educating Illinois men and strengthen the growth and development of the state of Illinois.
W. C. Walton, "Centennial History of McKendree College, book II in Joseph Guandolo, ed., Centennial McKendree College with St. Clair County History (Lebanon, IL: McKendree College, 1928), 131; Illinois Senate Journal . 1835. 9th G. A., 1 sess., 338-41

3In 1841, the General Assembly adopted an act repealing the restriction on theological departments in colleges.

4In 1841, the General Assembly passed an act that repealed the 640-acre limitation for these colleges and other colleges with similar restrictions.

5Prior to 1849, Illinois had no general incorporation law governing colleges and universities. Incorporators of prospective colleges were required to petition the General Assembly for individual charters. Early Illinois general assemblies were less than enthusiastic about colleges and universities, as many legislators were unconvinced about the value of higher education and suspicious of the movement to establish institutions of higher learning. The fact that the impetus for schools came from Baptists, Presbyterians, and other Protestant denominations added to the legislators’s discomfort. Prohibitions on theological departments, restrictions on land ownership, and strictures against religious tests for admission reflected fears about undue religious influence in education and divisive sectarianism. By 1840, however, views on education had changed, prompting repeal of restrictions on theological departments and land ownership. In January 1849, the General Assembly ended the practice of individual charters by enacting a statute for the general incorporation of institutions of higher learning. This statute placed no restrictions on theological departments, but it did limit land holdings to one thousand acres at any one time.
Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois: Cook County Edition (Chicago: Munsell, 1905), 1:111-12, 291; Charles E. Frank, Pioneers’s Progress: Illinois College, 1829-1979 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979), 29-30; “An Act for the Incorporation of Institutions of Learning,” January 26, 1849, Laws of the State of Illinois (1849), 86-87.