Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 16, 1836.

AN ACT to re-locate a part of the State Road in Coles County.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Ebenezer Alexander, William Langston and Daniel Drake, of Coles county, are hereby appointed commissioners, to re-locate, and establish that part of the state road in Coles county, that lies between John Waddles’, in said county, and Shelbyville, commencing at or near the house of said John Waddles, and running thence on a straight line, about one hundred yards, in a direction so as to strike the north-west corner of said Waddles’ land; thence west with the survey line, one mile and a quarter; thence in a direction to intersect the Shelbyville road at the timber, about two and a half miles from said Waddles.2

When and where to meet.

To be sworn.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at said Waddle’s, on or before the first day of August next, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace, to impartially survey, and re-locate said road, shall establish, by running two furrows, thirty feet apart from each other, so as to embrace the points set forth in the first section of this act.

Make return.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall make a return of their proceedings to the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of Coles county, correctly describing the alterations made in said road, under their hands and seals, within thirty days after the action and completion of the same.

Compensation.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ court of said county, shall allow said commissioners one dollar and fifty cents

<Page 2>
each, per day, for the necessary service by them rendered in altering said road: and said court shall also allow the person employed by the commissioners to run off the furrows along said road, reasonable compensation for the services rendered.

Acts repealed.

Sec. 5. All acts or parts of acts coming within the purview of this act, are hereby repealed. This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, Jan. 16, 1836.

1On December 18, 1835, James T. Cunningham presented to the House of Representatives a petition from citizens of Coles County, asking for an alteration to the state road leading from Charleston to Shelbyville. The House referred the petition to a select committee. On December 22, Cunningham, speaking on behalf of the select committee, introduced HB 54 in the House. On December 30, the House passed the bill without amendment. On January 13, 1836, the Senate passed the bill without amendment. On January 16, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 84, 122, 140, 177, 311, 346, 359; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 134, 227-228, 268, 280.

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.