Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Whereas there was granted to the people of the State of Illinois by the Congress of the United States upon their admission into the Union, five percent of the net proceeds of all the public lands sold within the state two percent of fifths of which was to be laid out by Congress in the making of public Roads to this State, and H whereas there is now in progress through this State a continuation of the great Cumberland road or national road, which proceeds but tardily, in consequence it is believed of the low price offered for labor on said road, And whereas also the Government of the United States has authorized the offerings of much higher prices for labor on the Great Red River raft,2 than is offered on the aforesaid Road, Therefore

Resolved, That our Senators and representatives in Congress be requested to use their exertions to procure such pay for labor on said road as will insure a speedy con vigorous prosecution of the and speedy3 completion of the road through through the State to Alton as contemplated

Resolved that it is, in our opinion an injust an act of injustice to the State of Illinois, to afford greater facilities to other portions of the Union in the vigorous and effectual prosecution of public works, than has been afforded to this State in the instance of road above alluded to.4

Resolved that an increase of pay for labor on

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the national road is necessary, in order to procure that labor, and make the work in any reasonable time.

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12/23/1835
White, Leonard

Adopted by the Senate
23 Decem. 1835
Leo^d White Secretary

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6

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Preamble & resolution instructing our delegation in Congress to procure if possible the passage of a law of Congress for increasing the pay for laborers on the national road

1William J. Gatewood introduced this resolution in the Senate on December 23, 1835. The Senate adopted the resolution on the same day. The House of Representatives concurred on December 24.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess.,141-42, 147; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 92-93, 106.

2The Great Raft was a jam of driftwood, brush, and mud that obstructed navigation of the Red River between Shreveport and Natchitoches, Louisiana. In 1833, government engineers estimated that the raft extended 130 miles. Beginning in 1828, Congress regularly appropriated funds for the removal of the Great Raft, but all efforts were unsuccessful until after the Civil War.
Carl Newton Tyson, The Red River in Southwestern History (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981), 72, 88, 94-100.

3“speedily” changed to “speedy”

4On July 2, 1836, Congress passed a law appropriating $150,000 for the continuation of the National Road in Illinois.
“An Act for the Continuation of the Cumberland Road in the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,” 2 July 1836, U.S. Statutes at Large 5 (1836): 71-72.