Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Resolved by the House of Representatives the Senate concurring herein) that our senators in Congress be instructed and our representatives be requested to use all proper exertions to procure competent Engineers of the United States corps to2 make a Survey of the Wabash Great Wabash River and to ascertain the probable amount that will be necessary to remove the obstructions to the navigation of said river.3

Resolved, that in our opinion an appropriation by congress for removing said obstructions would be in accordance with the constitution.

Resolved, that our said Senators and representatives use exertions to obtain from congress an appropriation for the object herein stated, and that the governor be requested to forward a copy hereof to each of our senators and representatives.4

Resolved, That our said Senators be instructed & our representatives be requested to procure a donation of land for the object herein stated,

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and that the Governor be requested to forward a Copy hereof to each of our senators & representatives.5

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Manly Res.

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Resolution praying an appropriation from Congress to improvement the Great Wabash River.

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01/06/1836
Prickett, David (Pricket)

to be Engrossed ^Enrolled^
Clk. H. R.

1On December 16, 1835, Uri Manley introduced three resolutions on improvement of the Great Wabash River in the House of Representatives, and the House adopted them. On December 17, the Senate tabled the resolutions. On December 22, the Senate struck out the second resolution by a vote of 16 yeas to 7 nays, and struck out the third resolution by a vote of 13 yeas to 10 nays. The Senate rejected a motion to indefinitely postpone consideration by a vote of 12 yeas to 13 nays. The Senate amended the resolutions by adding as additional resolution. The Senate adopted the resolutions as amended by a vote of 19 yeas to 5 nays. On December 23, the House concurred with the Senate amendments by a vote of 30 yeas to 22 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. On January 7, 1836, the House and Senate delivered the resolutions to Governor Joseph Duncan for his signature. Representative Zadok Casey introduced the resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 1. The House Committee on Public Lands reported a bill to address the petition, but it did not pass. The Senate passed a bill to address the petition as well, but the House did not pass it.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 74-75, 128, 138, 241, 248; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 53-54, 87-89, 103, 179, 180; U.S. House Journal. 1836. 24th Cong., 1st sess., 257, 350-51, 357, 372, 394; U.S. Senate Journal. 1836. 24th Cong., 1st sess., 88, 177.

2“to” written over “of.”

3Early settlers in Illinois and Indiana were anxious to use the Wabash River for shipping because of its connection to New Orleans via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. However, hazards and obstructions such as logjams, sand bars, falls, and rapids made navigation of the river dangerous or impossible, particularly in the sections from Logansport to Lafayette and from Vincennes south to the confluence with the Ohio River near Shawneetown. The governments of Illinois and Indiana commissioned surveys of the Wabash River in 1823 and 1834 that led to appropriations for the removal of obstructions, but no significant improvement resulted. In 1843, the Wabash and Erie Canal opened, offering an easy link from the Wabash River to Lake Erie. This diverted much of the shipping traffic on the river in that direction rather than south to New Orleans.
Eleanore A. Cammack, “Notes on Wabash River Steamboating: Early Lafayette,” in Indiana Magazine of History, vol. 50, no. 1 (March 1954), 35-50; Donald F. Carmony, Indiana, 1816-1850: The Pioneer Era, vol. 2 of The History of Indiana (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1998), 44, 141, 184.

4On December 22, 1835, the Senate amended the House resolutions by striking out the second and third resolutions.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 88.

5On December 22, 1835, the Senate amended the resolutions by adding a resolution.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 88.