Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 15, 1836.

AN ACT to locate a Road from Quincy in Adams county, to Pittsfield in Pike county.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Samuel Stone, and Robert Kay of Adams county, and Thomas Pulliam of Pike county, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to view, mark and locate a state road from Quincy in Adams county, to Pittsfield in Pike county.

When and where to meet.

To be sworn.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Quincy, on the first Monday in April next, or within thirty days thereafter; and after 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, on the most eligible and advantageous ground, and shall place in the prairies through which said road may pass, stakes of durable timber, and blazes on the trees in the timber.

To report.

Sec. 3. As soon as practicable after said road is located, the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall make a report thereof under their hands, and return the same to the clerks of the county commissioners’ courts of Adams and Pike, which report shall be filed and preserved in their offices; and the said county commissioners’ courts, shall cause so much of said road as lies in their respective counties, to be opened four poles wide, and the same is hereby declared to be a state road.2

Compensation.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ court of the said counties of Pike and Adams, shall allow said commissioners a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasuries.

Approved, Jan. 15, 1836.

1On December 14, 1835, Archibald Williams introduced to the Senate a petition from citizens of Adams County, requesting a state road between Quincy and Pittsfield. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions, and on December 18, Williams from the committee introduced the bill. The Senate passed the bill unamended on December 23. The House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee on December 24. On December 29, the select committee reported back the bill with an amendment, which the House approved. The House passed the bill as amended on December 31. On January 14, the Senate approved the amendments of the House. On January 15, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 141, 146, 164, 192, 331, 349; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 30, 56, 83, 94, 142, 246, 250, 269.

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.