Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 16th Jan.[January] 1837.

AN ACT relocating parts of the State road leading from Springfield to Decatur.
1

Commissioners appointed to view and re-locate road from Burns’ lane to West Clear creek bridge and a section line across prairie then on best ground to the bridge.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Reason Constant, Charles Morgan and Josiah Green be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, survey and relocate that part of the State road2 between the east end of Burns’ lane and the west Clear creek bridge, by running said road on a section line which runs east from said lane until the said line passes the prairie a sufficient distance to reach the best ground for said road; thence in a south eastern direction to intersect the present location at or near the bridge aforesaid.

To view and relocate road from Fullenniders to first branch east of Garvey’s; then to intersect the present road near the branch

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall then proceed to view and relocate that part of said road which lies between the east end of Harriet Fullennider’s lane and the first branch in the prairie east of Samuel Garvey’s house, so as to run on a half section line which leaves Samuel Garvey’s house on the north side; thence in a northeastwardly course until said road intersects the present location at or near the branch aforesaid.

When and where to meet.

To be sworn.
Oath.

Report.
Road to be kept in repair.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at the house of Thomas Carroll’s on or before the first Monday in March next, or within one month thereafter, and after being first duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge the duties herein re-

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quired, shall then proceed to discharge the duties enjoined on them by this act, and on or before the first Monday in June next, shall make a report of their proceedings to the county commissioners court of Sangamon county, and said court shall cause said road to be kept in repair as other State roads.

Compensation.

Vacation.

Sec. 4. Said commissioners shall receive for their services a reasonable compensation, to be paid out of the county treasury by an order of the county commissioners court, and so soon as the contemplated change in said road be made, and the road so changed made good, then so much as is proposed to be changed shall be vacated.

Approved, 16th January, 1837.

1On December 14, 1836, John Dawson presented to the House of Representatives a petition from citizens of Sangamon County, requesting a relocation of part of the state road leading from Springfield to Decatur. The House referred the bill to a select committee. On December 17, Dawson, speaking on behalf of the select committee, reported HB 5 in the House. The House passed the bill on December 30. The Senate passed the billon January 7, 1837. On January 16, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 35, 66, 137, 147, 199, 256, 281-82; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 157, 163, 172, 181, 211.

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.