1
Whereas In all free representative Government, The Sovreignty and will of the people is an indisputable ^Principle^
Truth^,^ They have a right and it is their duty, upon all proper occasions when ever they
deem it necessary, to instruct their Representative, in the duties which they Require
them to perform, in order more fully to carry their will into effect.
Therefore
Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, That our Senators in Congress be, and they are hereby instructed, to vote for, and use thier influence to have expunged from the Journal of the United States Senate, the Resolution passed on the 28th day of March 1834, declaring That the President of the United States in the Late executive proceedings in relation to the public Revenue had assumed upon himself an authority and power not conferd by the Constitution, and Laws But in derogation of Both, the same having passed that Body without warrant of Law.2
Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, That our Senators in Congress be, and they are hereby instructed, to vote for, and use thier influence to have expunged from the Journal of the United States Senate, the Resolution passed on the 28th day of March 1834, declaring That the President of the United States in the Late executive proceedings in relation to the public Revenue had assumed upon himself an authority and power not conferd by the Constitution, and Laws But in derogation of Both, the same having passed that Body without warrant of Law.2
Resolved that our Senators in Congress are hereby particularly instructed to use their utmost exertions to carry into Effect
the object of the above Resolution.
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Resolutions
1John S. Hacker introduced the resolution in the Senate on December 9, 1835. The Senate referred the resolution to the Committee of the Whole
and made it the order of the day for December 10. On December 12, the Committee of
the Whole reported back the resolution without amendment. The Senate defeated a motion
to amend the resolution by striking out all after the word “resolved” and inserting
in lieu thereof a substitute. The Senate adopted the resolution by a vote of 15 yeas
to 10 nays. On December 14, the House of Representatives adopted the resolution by a vote of 36 yeas to 16 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. On December 19, the House and Senate delivered the resolution to Governor
Joseph Duncan for his signature.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 44, 62, 83;
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 11-12, 21, 24, 29-30, 42, 57.
2On December 26, 1833, Henry Clay introduced the resolution censuring President Andrew Jackson for the withdrawal federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States as an abuse of presidential power. The Senate passed the resolution by a vote of 26 yeas to 20 nays. Clay also introduced a resolution
condemning Secretary of the Treasury Roger B. Taney’s reasons for removing the deposits as “unsatisfactory and insufficient.” The Senate
passed this resolution on February 5, 1834. Clay introduced these resolutions at
a time when Congress was debating a replacement for the bank in the aftermath of Jackson’s veto of the
re-charter bill.
Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War: A Study in the Growth of Presidential Power (New York: W. W. Norton, 135-41; U.S. Senate Register of Debates. 1833. 23rd Congress, 1st sess., 57-58.
3A substitute, offered by William Thomas, resolved that it was unconstitutional for a subsequent Senate to “change, alter or mutilate” any part of the journal of a previous Senate.
On April 8, 1836, John M. Robinson in the U.S. Senate introduced the resolution as passed in the Illinois Senate. The Senate tabled the resolution and ordered it printed.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess.,
29; U.S. Senate Journal. 1835. 24th Congress, 1st sess., 277.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Folder 227, GA Session: 9-2,
Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,