Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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

AN ACT to lay out certain State Roads in Morgan County.
1

Commissioners appointed to locate road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Robert H. McDow, William King and Fielding Grimsley, of Morgan

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county, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to review, mark, and locate, a state road from the Illinois river, at or near where the line between townships fourteen and fifteen strike the same, to a point at or near where the said line would intersect the state road leading from Jacksonville, in said county, to Vandalia.2

Where and when to meet.

Shall be sworn.

Make report.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or any two of them, shall meet in the town of Jacksonville, on the first Monday in March next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after having been duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to perform the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark, and locate said road, from point to point, varying from said lines, whenever they may deem it expedient so to do; and they shall make a report in writing to the next county commissioners’ court, thereafter, which said report shall form a part of the records of said court: and the said road, so laid out, shall be deemed a state road, and shall be opened not less than sixty feet wide, and kept in repair as other state roads are.3

Compensation.

Sec. 3. The county commissioners’ court of Morgan county, shall pay to said commissioners, out of the county treasury, a reasonable compensation for their services, not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per day.

Commissioners appointed to locate, &c.[etc.]

Compensation.

Sec. 4. That James Ethel, John Christman and Temple Windle, of said county, are, in like manner, hereby appointed commissioners, to view, mark, and locate a state road from Bethel, via Lynnville, to Manchester, in said county. They shall meet in the town of Bethel, on the second Monday in March next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace, faithfully to perform the duties imposed upon them by this act, shall proceed to view, mark, and locate said road, from point to point, on the nearest and best route, doing as little injury to private property as practicable, and in all other respects be governed by the preceding sections of this act: and they shall receive the same compensation as the first named commissioners may be allowed. And said road, when so laid out, and a report thereof in writing, filed in said court, shall be deemed, in like manner, to be a public road, and shall be opened and kept in repair as other state roads are.

Approved, Jan. 18, 1836.

1On December 14, 1835, John Wyatt in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Morgan County, requesting construction of a certain state road. The House referred the petition to a select committee. Responding to the petition, Wyatt of the select committee introduced HB 139 in the House on January 11, 1836. The House passed the bill unamended on January 13. On January 16, the Senate passed the bill unamended. On January 18, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 273, 301, 313-14, 350, 370, 372; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 42, 239, 271, 287, 289.

2The boundary between Townships 14 and 15 North intersects the Illinois River at the middle of the western border of what is now Scott County.

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.