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Sec [Section]1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly That from and after the first day of June 1837, if any person or persons or any Banking
or other Corporation, shall pass, or attempt to pass any note, Bill, check, or order
of any Banking or other Corporation of a less denomination than five dollars, or whereon
less than five dollars shall be due at the time of such passing or attempting to pass
the same, with an intent that the same shall be circulated as money, or to be used
as money or currency; such person or persons, or Corporation so offending shall forfeit
and pay for every such offence the sum of ten dollars
Sec 2. Said Sum of ten dollars may be sued for and recovered by any person or persons
in his or their own name or names, before any Justice of the Peace in the County where
such Offense has been committed, or in the Circuit Court of such County in the same manner that debts of like magnitude are sued for and recovered
by any person or persons whatever Provided that nothing in this act shall be construed
to prevent the passing and circulation of the notes of the “Bank of Illinois” and of the old State Bank of Illinois of a less denomination than five dollars.
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted that if any person or persons shall be guilty of the offence
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mentioned in this bill such person or persons shall be liable to be indicted by the
Grand Jury of the County, where such offense has been committed, and the Court upon
conviction thereof shall assess a fine upon the person or persons so convicted not
exceeding twenty dollars
Sec 4. any bill, note, or other evidence of debt intended to be used as a circulating
medium or which shall be hereafter issued by the Bank of the State of Illinois approved February 12, 1835. or by the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown,2 and specified on its face, to be payable at any place beyond the limits of this State, shall be deemed and taken to be due and payable at the Banking House of such Corporation
in this State: and if said Bank or either of its Branches shall refuse, neglect[,] or fail to redeem all such bills[,] notes[,] or evidences of debt within the time required by the Charter after demand made at
such Banking House, the said Bank shall forfeit its charter and the same shall thereafter
be null and void3
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No 231
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An act to prevent the circulation of Bank notes of a less denomination than five dollars
in this State
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[02]/[10]/[1837]
[02]/[10]/[1837]
Engrossed
1John J. Hardin introduced HB 51 in the House of Representatives on December 31, 1836. On January 10, 1837, the House referred the bill to a select
committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 9 with an amendment.
On February 10, the House amended the amendment by adding the words “or the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown,” by a vote of 57 yeas to 13 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. The House next considered a motion to amend the bill by striking out
all after the title. The House refused to table the bill and proposed amendment by
a vote of 18 yeas to 53 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. The House rejected the proposed
amendment by a vote of 32 yeas to 41 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. The House concurred
in the amendment of the select committee as amended by a vote of 46 yeas to 29 nays,
with Lincoln voting nay. The House ordered the bill engrossed for a third reading
by a vote of 44 yeas to 34 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. On February 18, the House
passed the bill as amended. On February 23, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee, which did not report back the bill before
the end of the session.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 129, 152, 227-28, 536, 540-43, 640; Illinois Senate
Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 463-64, 502.
2On February 10, 1837, the House of Representatives amended added “or the Bank of Illinios at Shawneetown”.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 540-41.
3Sections twenty-two, twenty-five, and twenty-six of the act incorporating the State Bank of Illinois governed the bank’s obligations to redeem evidences of debt and the penalty incurred--forfeiture
of charter-- for failure to redeem evidences of debt within ten days of the demand
for payment. Section eight of the charter of the Bank of Illinois, extended by an act also approved on February 12, 1835, governed the bank’s obligations to redeem evidences
of debt, and it gave the General Assembly authority to enact laws to enforce and regulate the recovery of the amount of the
notes, bills, obligations, or other debts, of which payment shall have been refused.
Bills to restrict the circulation of bank notes below a certain denomination became
commonplace during Abraham Lincoln’s time in the General Assembly. In 1835, the House of Representatives passed, but the Senate tabled, such a bill. While the House was deliberating HB 51, the Senate on January 23, 1837, passed its
own bill restricting small notes, which the House tabled. In December 1838, the General
Assembly passed an act prohibiting the circulation of bank notes in denominations less than $5, but that
did not stop the House from considering a similar bill in 1839. At this time, other states were passing similar laws, and Congress had enacted a law prohibiting such notes on public accounts. President Andrew Jackson in his Eighth Annual Message to Congress had interpreted this trend as evidence of
anti-banking sentiment in America.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 361, 383, 458, 585; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 241, 257, 261, 270.
Sangamo Journal, 7 January 1837, 4:4; “An Act Making Appropriations for the Payment of the Revolutionary
and Other Pensioners of the United States, for the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Thirty-six,” 14 April 1836, Statutes at Large of the United States, 5:9; Andrew Jackson, Eighth Annual Message to Congress, 6 December 1836, U.S. Senate
Journal, 24th Cong., 2nd sess., 6 December 1836, 26: 17.
4These legislators formed a select committee in the Senate that considered the bill.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 502.
Handwritten Document, 4 page(s), Folder 49, HB 51, GA Session 10-1, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,