Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 2, 1837.

AN ACT to locate a certain State road therein named.
1

Commissioners to locate road.

Route of said road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Robert Palmer, Robert G. Allen and Henry Landers be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to mark, view, and locate a State road2 on the nearest and most eligible route from the Lake fork bridge, on the Jacksonville and Greenville State road, one half mile south of Bailey Taylor’s, and from thence via Sparta, to the Edwardsville road, at Elias Gwinn’s on the Dry fork of the Macoupin creek.3

Shall meet at Sparta.

Shall be sworn.

To return plat and survey to county commissioners’ clerk.

Declared a State road.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall meet at Sparta on

<Page 2>
the first Monday in April next, or within one month thereafter, and after having been duly sworn before some justice of the peace of said county, to the faithful discharge of their duties, shall proceed to view, mark and locate said road as soon as practicable thereafter, and cause to be made out a report of the location of said road, designating the most important points thereon, and as soon as practicable return a copy of the same to the clerk of the county commissioners court of Macoupin county, which shall be by him filed in his office, and said road thus laid out shall be and is hereby declared a State road, and shall be opened and kept in repair as other public roads.

Compensation of commissioners.

Sec. 3. The county commissioners’ court of the county of Macoupin, shall allow said commissioners a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasury of said county.

Approved, March 2, 1837.

1On January 2, 1837, John Harris in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Macoupin County, requesting a state road. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. In response to this petition, Stephen A. Douglas from the Committee on Petitions introduced HB 64 in the House on January 11. On January 26, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 30 with amendments, in which the House concurred. On February 6, the House passed the bill as amended. On February 10, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on that same day with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. On February 11, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 25, the House concurred in the Senate amendments. On March 2, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 155, 233, 399, 427, 487, 686, 719, 792; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 359, 375, 387, 389-90, 396, 552, 589.

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.

3The proposed route lay entirely inside Macoupin County.