Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 16, 1836.

AN ACT to locate and establish a State Road from the Wabash river in Crawford county, to Shelbyville in Shelby county.
1

Duties of Commissioners.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John Gill of Crawford county, Joseph Glen of Coles county, and John

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Storm of Shelby county, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to view, survey, mark and locate a road, commencing at some point on the Wabash river in Crawford county, to be determined by them, or a majority of them, with a view of the said road being extended in the state of Indiana, to intersect the road leading from Louisville to Vincennes; thence by the town of Greenup in Coles county, to Shelbyville in Shelby county, varying as little as practicable, from a direct line between said places, having in view the most eligible route, its permanency, and a due regard to public convenience.2

Where and when to meet.

Shall make a plat of said survey.

Sec. 2. That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Palestine in Crawford county, on the first day of April next, or at some convenient time thereafter; and being first duly sworn before some judge or justice of the peace in this state, faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to make the necessary examinations, and determine upon the place for the crossing of the said road across the Wabash river; and after they shall have done so, to view, mark and locate the route of said road through Palestine and Greenup, to Shelbyville in Shelby county; and as soon as practicable thereafter, cause a plat of the survey of said road, so viewed, marked, and located, and certified by them, to be filed in the clerks office of the county commissioners’ court of the counties of Crawford, Coles and Shelby, of that part of the road so located in each of said counties; and each of the clerks of the county commissioners’ courts in said counties, shall file the same, and lay said plat before the county commissioners’ court at the next term thereafter; and the said court shall cause an entry thereof to be entered on their records; and the road so laid out and located, is hereby declared a public state road,3 and shall be opened and kept in repair, three rods wide, in the same manner as other public roads are required by law.

Compensation.

Sec. 3. Each of said commissioners shall receive for their services, one dollar and fifty cents per day, for all the time necessarily employed in said service, to be allowed by the county commissioners’ courts of the said counties of Crawford, Coles and Shelby; and it shall be the duty of the commissioners to make a certified statement of the time they were engaged, and return the same with the plat, to the clerks of the said county commissioners’ courts.

Approved, Jan. 16, 1836.

1James T. Cunningham introduced HB 88 in the House of Representatives on December 29, 1835. On December 31, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill with several amendments on January 1, and the House approved the amendments. The House passed the bill as amended on January 4. 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., 163, 194, 205, 221, 333-34, 346, 359; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 172, 244, 268, 280.

2In 1837, the General Assembly passed an act vacating part of the road lying in Crawford County. In 1839, it passed an act calling for the roads envisioned in 1836 and 1837 to intersect.

3State 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.