Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 10, 1835.

AN ACT for the altering of the Vincennes and Chicago State Road.
1

Commissioners appointed to re-locate said road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Peleg Spencer, John H. Murphy and Edward M. Wilson, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view and re-locate that part of the Vincennes and Chicago State road2 that lies between the one hundred and third, and one hundred and fifth mile stones, as surveyed by D. W. Beckwith, county surveyor, taking into consideration the injury to private property, as now located; also, the injury by the proposed alteration, and make report thereof to the commissioners’

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court of Vermilion county. They shall also report, whether or not, said road should be so altered, and in case they should report unfavorable to such alteration, it shall not be made.

When and where to meet.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet in Danville on or before the first Monday in April next, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, impartially to view and re-locate the same, shall, within fifteen days after the re-location of said road, cause a true survey and map of the same to be lodged with the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of Vermilion county.

Declared a public highway.

Sec. 3. Said road, when re-located as aforesaid, shall be deemed a public highway, and opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.

Compensation.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ court shall allow to said commissioners, a reasonable compensation for their services.

Approved, Feb. 10, 1835.

1On January 23, 1835, John W. Vance in the Senate introduced a petition from citizens of Vermilion County, requesting alteration of the state road from Vincennes to Chicago. The Senate referred the petition to a select committee, and on January 30 Vance from the select committee introduced SB 114 in the Senate. The Senate passed the bill on January 31. On February 5, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 6 with an amendment, in which the House concurred before passing the bill as amended. The Senate concurred in the House amendment on February 7. On February 10, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 465, 502, 512, 519; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 312, 375, 392, 450, 461, 474, 483, 484; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 385, 388, 400.

2State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.