Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 18, 1836.

AN ACT to locate the State Roads therein named.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Elijah Wells, Amos Anderson and Joseph Thaylor, of the county of Perry, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to locate the state road leading from Kirkpatrick’s bridge, on Little Muddy, to St. Louis, and from said bridge to Pinckneyville, so as to cause both roads to run together, on a straight line from the place where said road forks, on the west side of said bridge, until said roads pass the plantation of Aquilla Combs, in Perry county, on the west side of said plantation; and after said roads pass said plantation, to separate, and to intersect the parent roads again, on the most eligible ground, and direct route, practicable.

When and where to meet.

Make a report.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet on the first Monday of February, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, at the house of Aquilla Combs, in Perry county, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and take an oath before

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some magistrate of said county, to faithfully perform the duties enjoined on them by this act; after which they shall proceed to re-locate said road, in the manner pointed out by the first section of this act, and report their proceedings to the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of Perry county, who shall file the same; and upon filing said report, the road so re-located, shall be worked upon, and be a public highway.2

Proviso.

Sec. 3. So much of said roads as will be changed by the re-location of the present roads, be, and the same is hereby repealed; Provided, That in no case shall said commissioners be authorised to re-locate said road, without the county commissioners’ court of Perry county first authorise the same, hereby leaving it discretionary with the said court to have the same received.

Commissioners.

To be sworn.

Make report.

Compensation.

Sec. 4. That Enoch B. Weathers and Jacob C. Bruner, be, and the same are hereby authorised to mark, and lay out a state road, sixty feet wide, from the town of Illinois, in St. Clair county, to the town of Alton, on the Mississippi river, as high up said river, as to be opposite the state [road] leading from St. Charles, to the bank of the Mississippi above Alton. Said commissioners shall, before entering upon the duties enjoined on them by this act, take an oath before some justice of the peace of Madison county, to faithfully execute the duties enjoined on them by this act. Said commissioners shall make out a report, describing the said road, and deliver a copy to the county commissioners’ court of St. Clair and Madison counties, when the same shall be filed; and the said court shall allow said commissioners a reasonable compensation for their services.

Approved, Jan. 18, 1836.

1Responding to a petition from citizens of Perry County, Richard G. Murphy from a select committee introduced HB 120 in the House of Representatives on January 2, 1836. On January 5, the House referred the bill to a select committee. On January 15, the select committee reported back the bill with sundry amendments, in which the House concurred. On January 16, the House passed the bill as amended. On January 16, the Senate passed the bill. On January 18, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 212, 229, 332-33, 350, 370; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 266, 272, 287.

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.