Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 15, 1836.

AN ACT to re-locate a State Road therein named.
1

Commissioners.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That William Rittenhouse, John G. Short, and Robert Higgins of the county of St. Clair, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to review, and re-locate so much of the state road leading from Belleville to Thomas Pulliam’s ferry, as lies between Alexander Scott’s and said Pulliam’s on the Kaskaskia river.2

When and where to meet.

Compensation.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet at the town of Belleville, on the first Monday of March, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and take an oath before some justice of the peace of said county, to faithfully and impartially execute the duties enjoined on them by this act; after taking said oath, said commissioners shall proceed to review and relocate said road, so as to do as little damage as practicable to farms and small tracts of land through which the same may pass. They shall report their proceedings to the

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county commissioners’ clerk, who shall file said report, and the road so re-located, shall be opened and kept in repair; and the former road after such re-location, shall be vacated; and the county commissioners’ court, shall allow said commissioners a reasonable compensation for their services while engaged in the prosecution of their duties.

Approved, Jan. 15, 1836.

1On December 17, 1835, Adam W. Snyder in the Senate introduced the petition of citizens of St. Clair County, relating to altering and relocating an existing road. The Senate referred the petition to a select committee. Responding to the petition, Snyder introduced SB 94 in the Senate on January 4, 1836. On January 8, the Senate passed the bill unamended. On January 13, the House of Representatives passed the bill unamended. On January 15, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 259, 280, 314, 331, 349, 372; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 52, 160, 186, 238, 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.