Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 16, 1835.

AN ACT to locate a State Road from Liberty to Tremont.
1

Commissioners

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Benjamin Briggs, Josiah L. James, and Nathan Dillon, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to view, mark and locate a state road, from Liberty in Tazewell county, to Tremont, having a due regard in said location, to a direct line and the convenience of the citizens.

When and where to meet.

Make a map.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet at Tremont on the first Monday of March next, or within three months thereafter at the town of Tremont; and being first duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark and locate said road; and as soon as practicable thereafter, cause to be made a map of the survey of said road certified by them, and deliver a copy thereof to the clerk of the Tazewell county commissioners’ court, who shall file the same in his office; and the said road thus laid out, shall be, and is hereby declared a state road, and shall be opened and kept in repair as other state roads.2

Compensation.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall receive for their services a reasonable compensation, to be paid out of the county treasury of Tazewell county.

Certain road declared a state road.

Sec. 4. That the road commencing at the Pekin road, and at the centre of section twenty-seven, town twenty-four, range four; and running due north, to the centre of section fifteen, in the same town and range; and from

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thence due east one half mile, shall be established and confirmed a state road, and worked and kept in repair as other state roads are.3

Approved, Jan. 16, 1836.

1On December 21, 1835, William Brown presented to the House of Representatives a petition from citizens of Tazewell County, requesting a state road between Tremont and Liberty. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. On December 24, John T. Stuart of the Committee on Petitions reported HB 68 to the House. On December 30, the House referred the bill to a select committee, which reported back the bill with amendments on December 31. The House approved the amendments, and on January 1, 1836, they passed the bill as amended. On January 14, the Senate passed the bill. On January 16, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 113, 144, 183-84, 187, 200, 334, 345, 359; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 147, 245, 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.

3The land described here is in Elm Grove Township in central Tazewell County, southeast of Pekin . In 1837, the General Assembly passed an act that might have altered the course of this road.