Sec[Sectiion]. 1. Be it Enacted by the people of the State of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly, That the commissioners of the School fund be, and they are hereby required to receive
the whole amount of the School Fund belonging to this State, and now deposited in the agency of the Commercial Bank of Cincinatti at St Louis or in any other Bank, and deposit the same in the Treasury of the State, and the Treasurer is hereby required to receive said money, and receipt for the
same: and the said money when so received, shall be applied to the payments of demands against the Treasury, in the Same manner as money derived from the ordinary
sources of revenue, and the state shall be chargable with the interest on the same, at the rate of six per cent per annum.1
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A Bill for an act concerning the School fund ^redemption of lands sold for taxes. ^
A Bill for an act concerning the School fund ^redemption of lands sold for taxes. ^
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18
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new bills passed
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[12]/[19]/[1835]
[12]/[19]/[1835]
Engrossed
1When Ohio and Indiana became states, Congress earmarked five percent of the net proceeds of all future sales of government lands
within those states for the construction of roads and canals. In 1818, when Congress
passed the act enabling the Illinois Territory to become a state, Nathaniel Pope successfully argued that the proceeds from sales of government lands in Illinois
should be earmarked for education rather than infrastructure. Upon statehood, Congress
granted to Illinois three percent of the net proceeds of all federal land sales in the state to be used
exclusively for education; this became known as the “three percent fund”. Congress
additionally granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale of land
in each township’s Section 16. This money became known as the common school fund.
Congress specified that one-sixth of the three percent fund was to be used for the
establishment of a college or university; this became known as the “college fund.”
Congress furthermore specified that the proceeds from the sales of land in two entire
townships would be reserved for a seminary of learning; this became known as the “seminary
fund.” Since 1829, the state had been borrowing from the school and seminary funds
in order to pay regular government expenses.
“An Act to Enable the People of the Illinois Territory to Form a Constitution and
State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing
with the Original States,” 18 April 1818, Statutes at Large of the United States, 3:428-31; “An Act Authorizing the Commissioners of the School and Seminary Fund
to Loan the Same to the State,” 17 January 1829, Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois (1829), 118-19; W. L. Pillsbury, “Early Education in Illinois,” in Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State
of Illinois (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1886), 106-07.
2These legislators formed the select committee in the Senate that considered the bill.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess.,
169.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Folder 46, HB 47, GA Session: 9-2,
Illinois State Archives [Springfield, IL] ,