Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 12, 1836.

AN ACT declaring the Road lying in Edgar County, between A. Forster’s and H. G. Smith’s, a State Road.
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Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the road intersecting the state road, at the house of Arthur Foster, in Edgar county, running from thence to John Forster’s, Robert Dudley’s, Michael O’Harris’, James Griffin’s, Ashford Mapiers’, Thomas Hicklin’s, Emanuel Pence’s Mr. Moses’, and to Emanuel Jinks’, so as to strike the line dividing the lands of said Jinks and Charles Smith, and thence to intersect the Vandalia road, at Henry G. Smith’s, be, and the same is hereby declared a state road, as now travelled, and shall be opened and kept in good repair, as other state roads are.2

Approved, Jan. 12, 1836.

1On December 9, 1835, Nelson W. Nunnally in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Edgar County, requesting that a portion of the road leading from Terre Haute to Vandalia passing through Edgar County be declared a state road. The House referred the petition to a select committee. Responding to the petition, Nunally of the select committee introduced HB 15 in the House on December 14. The House passed the bill on December 21. On January 7, the Senate passed the bill. On January 12, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 27, 61, 68, 115, 258, 285, 303, 307; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 89, 93, 168, 170, 182, 217, 231.

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.