Sec[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly That Richard I. Barritt William L. May, William Thornton, Robert Allen, James Maxey Hiram Rountree, Dan Stone, S. Francis John Calhoun, John Taylor, George Forquer, Thomas Mather, and John Williams be, and they are hereby created a body Corporate, to be Styled and known by the name of the “Trustees of the Stonington 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
Sect[Section] 2. Said Trustees shall not exceed the number of thirty five, the president or principal of the College shall Ex officio be a member of the BoardNo other Instructor shall be a member
Sec. 3rd The powers hereby given said Trustees shall not be used or construed to extend to the contracting for, or acquiring any property real, personal, or mixed, that shall not be necessary and proper for the purposes of an Institution of learning of this kind, and the whole property of said Corporation shall be faithfully applied solely to that end, and all funds by them owned, or may hereafter be owned, shall according to their best judgement, be applied in erecting College buildings in supporting the necessary officers, and agents of the Institution in procuring
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books, maps, Charts, Globes, Chemical, Philosophical[,] and other aparatus required to aid the promotion of sound learning. Said Trustees shall prescribe and regulate the course of studies to be pursued in the College, and in the preparatory departments attached there also to fix the rate of tuition, room rent as other College expenses, to appoint such Officers and Agents as may in their judgement be required to conduct said College, to define their duties and powers, and to fix their compensation to remove any or all of them, when the interests of the College may fully require it, to establish when thought proper a system of manual labor, to create Rules for the regulation of the Students and bye-Laws for the general management of the College Provided Nothing therein contained shall shall be inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this State or of the United States
Sec. 4. The Trustees shall have power to establish Departments for the study of any and all of the liberal professions, and to grant Diplomas in the same, to institute and confer the degrees of Doctor in the learned arts the [sci]nses, and in Bellesletter, and to confer such Academical Degrees as are usually conferred by learned institutions of the kind
Sec 5. Said Trustees shall have power to institute a Board of competent persons, always including in the number the Faculty of the College, who shall examine such individuals as may apply, and if the applicants are
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found to possess such knowledge as the studies pursued in said College as in the judgement of said Board under them worthy, they may be considered Honorary graduates, and shall be entitled to a Diploma accordingly on paying to the Treasurer the Sum required by the Trustees. Said examining board, may not exceed Seven in number Three may transact business Provided one is of the College Faculty
Sec 6. Any donation, devise, or bequest, made for special purposes accordant with the objects of the College, if the Trustees shall accept the same, shall be faithfully, and truly, applied in conformity with the express condition or conditions of the donor or devisorThe lands, tenements, and hereditaments to be held in perpetuity in virtue of this act by said Corporation, shall not exceed one thousand acres to each professional department it is Provided however that grants, donations[,] or devises in land which shall from time to time be made to said Corporation may be held for the term of Seven years from the date of every Such grant, donation, or devise, at the end of which time the said lands over and above the aforenamed one thousand acres to each department, shall be sold by the Corporation, and in case of neglect to sell said lands so donated shall revert back to the original donor or devisor, or to the lawful heirs of the same

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Sec 7. The Treasurer of said College and all other of its Agents when required by the Trustees before entering upon the duties of their appointments, shall give bond for the security of the Corporation in such penal Sum, and with such security as the Board of Trustees 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.
Sec 8. Said College in its different departments shall be open to all denominations of Christian and the profession of any particular religious faith shall not be required of the students, in order to admission, but those students whose habits are idle and vicious, or whose characters are immoral may be suspended, or expelled at the discretion of the Trustees
Sec 9. Said College shall be located at or near Stonington city in the County of Sangamon State of IllinoisThe Trustees shall hold at least one meeting for business annually, and the aforenamed Trustee[s] shall have power to call the first meeting, at which time shall be chosen a President of the Board[,] a Treasurer[,] and SecretarySpecial meeting may at any time be held by the order of the President of the Board, due notice being always givenFive shall constitute a quorum to do business Provided the President or Principal of the College is one
This act to be in force from and after its passage

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Sec. 11. Should the Corporation at any time act contrary to the provisions of this charter, or fail to comply with the same (upon complaint being made to the circuit Court of Sangamon County) a Scire facias shall issue, and the Circuit Attorney shall prosecute in behalf of the people of this State, for a Repeal of its Charter
This act to be in force from and after its passage
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01/20/1837
Passed H. R. Jany 20th 1837
D Prickett Clk[Clerk] H. R.

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13
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[?]
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No 292
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H. R.
An Act to Incorporate the Stonington College of Illinois
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To [?] Reading
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[01]/[20]/[1837]
Passed.
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[02]/[15]/[1837]
To be Enrolled as amended
Clk H R
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[01]/[17]/[1837]
Engrossed

Handwritten Document, 8 page(s), Folder 38, HB 38, GA Session 10-1, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,