Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 28th Feb. 1837

AN ACT to incorporate the Canton College of Illinois.
1

Created a body corporate

Their powers

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, that Joel Wright, Lathrop W. Curtis, Nathan Jones, Peter Westerfield, Joseph Cone, James P. Stewart, and N. G. Berryman, be and they are hereby created a body corporate, to be styled and known by the name of the trustees of the “Canton College of Illinois,” and by that name to remain and have perpetual succession, with full power to acquire, hold, and transfer property, real and personal, make contracts, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and in their corporate capacity, to make, have, and use a common seal, and the same to break, alter or destroy at pleasure.

Number of trustees

Sec. 2. The number of said trustees shall not exceed twenty-five, seven of whom shall reside in the county of Fulton. The president, or presiding officer of the college, shall ex officio be a member of the board of trustees; no other instructor shall be a member.

Trustees’ powers limited and defined

Sec. 3. The powers hereby given said trustees shall not be used or construed to extend to the contracting for or acquiring of any property, real, or personal, or mixed, that shall not be necessary and proper for the purposes of an institution of learning, and the whole property of said corporation shall be applied solely to that end. Said trustees shall faithfully apply funds by them owned, or hereafter owned, according to their best judgment, in erecting buildings, in supporting the necessary offices and agents of the college, in procuring books, maps, charts, globes, chemical, philosophical, and other apparatus, required to promote sound learning. They shall prescribe and regulate the course of studies to be pursued in said institution; and in its preparatory department fix

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the rate of tuition and regulate all college expenses, appoint such officers and agents as in their judgment may be requisite to conduct said college, define their duties and powers, and fix their compensations, remove any or all of them when the interest of the college may justly demand it, establish a system of manual labor, make rules for the regulation of the students, and by-laws for the general management of the college: Provided, Nothing therein contained shall be in opposition to the constitution or laws of this State, or inconsistent with the constitution or laws of the United States.

Different departments may be established

Degrees may be conferred

Sec. 4. As the ability of the said corporation shall increase, and they deem proper, they shall have authority to establish departments for the study of any or all of the liberal professions, and said trustees shall have power to institute and confer the degrees of doctor in science and in the learned arts, and belle lettres; and to confer such academical and honorary degrees as are usually conferred by similar institutions.

Trustees’ authority

Sec. 5. Said trustees shall have authority to institute a board of competent persons, always including the college faculty, who shall have power to examine such individuals as may apply, and if such applicants shall be considered honorary graduates, they shall be entitled to a diploma accordingly, on paying the sum required by the trustees. Said examining board shall not exceed seven in number: three shall be allowed to transact business, Provided, Two are of the college faculty.

How donations to be disposed of

What lands may be held

Sec. 6. Any donation, devise, or bequest made for specific purposes accordant with the objects of the college, if the trustees shall accept the same, shall be applied in conformity with the express condition of the donor or devisor. The lands, tenements, and hereditaments, to be held perpetually in virtue of this act by said corporation, shall not exceed one thousand acres: Provided, however, If donations, grants, or devises in land shall from time to time be made to said corporation over and above one thousand acres, which may be held in perpetuity as aforesaid. The same may be received and held by said corporation for the term of seven years from the date of every such donation, grant, or devise, at the end of which time, if the said lands, over and above the aforesaid one thousand acres, shall not have (been) sold by said corporation, then in that case said lands, so donated, granted, or devised, shall revert to the donor, grantor, or the heirs of the devisor of the same, as the case may be.

Treasurer and other agents to give bond

Sec. 7. The treasurer of said college, and all other agents to whom funds are committed, when required by the trustees, shall give bonds for the security of the cor-

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poration in such penal sum, and with such securities and at such time, as the board shall approve, and all process against said corporation shall be by summons, and service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy with the treasurer of the college at least thirty days before the return day thereof.

Not to be sectarian

Sec. 8. Said institution shall at all times be conducted upon free, liberal, and enlightened principles, and no student shall be excluded or prohibited from entering in consequence of his or her parents’ or guardians’ religious opinions; but all students, whose habits are idle, or whose morals are vicious and bad, may be suspended, or expelled at the discretion of the trustees.

Trustees to fill vacancies, and may remove members from the board

Sec. 9. The trustees shall have power to supply any vacancies which may occur in their body, and remove any member from the same for dishonorable or criminal conduct: Provided, The member implicated shall have opportunity to defend himself before the board, and two-thirds of the whole number of the trustees concur in the removal.

Location

Sec. 10. Said college for the present, shall be located at or near Canton, in the county of Fulton. The trustees shall hold at least one meeting for business annally. The by-laws shall regulate the time and manner of electing the officers, professors or agents of the board and faculty. The above and aforenamed trustees shall have power to call the first meeting of the trustees. Special meetings may at any time be held, by the order of the president or principal of the college and board of trustees. Seven shall form a quorum to do business, or five in case the president or principal of the college, or president of the board be one.

A public act

Sec. 11. This act shall be a public act, and shall be construed liberally in all courts for the purposes hereinbefore expressed expressed2

Approved 28th February, 1837.

1On December 17, 1836, Jonas Rawalt introduced HB 7 in the House of Representatives. On December 30, the House amended the bill by adding an additional section and passed the bill as amended. On January 6, 1837, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 4 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. On February 8, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 25, the House concurred with the Senate amendment. On February 28, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 26, 67, 137, 146-47, 515, 714, 752, 766; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 137, 157, 164, 347, 366, 536, 551-52.

2On December 30, 1836, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding a twelfth section, reserving the right of the legislature to amend or repeal the act “whenever the public good should require the same.” On February 4, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by removing the section. On February 25, the House concurred in this amendment.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 146-47; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 366.