Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, March 3, 1837.

AN ACT concerning the sixteenth section, in township three south, range fourteen west of the second principal meridian.
1

Majority of inhabitants may petition commissioner and agent of county.

Duty of commissioner to sell, and terms.

Proceeds how applied.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly,2 That whenever a majority of the inhabitants of Congressional township number three,3 in range number fourteen west of the second principal meridian,4 shall petition the school commissioner and agent of the county in which the greater portion of the sixteenth section of said township lies, it shall be the duty of said commissioner to sell the same in such subdivisions, on such terms as to credit or cash in hand, and at such place either within said township or at the county seat of any county, in which a portion of said sixteenth section may lie, as the said petition may request, the proceeds of such sale to be managed, applied and accounted for as the law directs, in other sales of sixteenth sections.5

This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 3, 1837.

1On January 14, 1837, Stephen A. Douglas introduced HB 122, originally entitled “A Bill to Authorize the Trustees of the Town of Pekin to Keep a Ferry over the Illinois River", in the House of Representatives. On January 26, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 3 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. On February 8, the House amended the bill by striking out the proviso in the first section, and by striking out portions of the fourth section. The House passed the bill as amended. On February 23, the Senate indefinitely postponed further consideration of the bill. On February 28, the House repassed the bill, amending the title so as to read, “A Bill concerning the Sixteenth Section, in Township Three South, Range Fourteen West of the Second Principal Meridian.” On March 2, the Senate passed the bill as amended by the House. On March 3, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 257, 401, 458, 522-23, 689, 767, 804, 816, 829; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 378, 480, 500, 575, 588, 604.

2On February 28, 1837, the House of Representatives replaced the original bill text with the text below. The original bill text is not extant.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 767.

3A Congressional or survey township was a parcel of land six miles long by six miles wide.

4Township three, Range 14 west, was located in Wabash County.

5School lands referred to the land in each township reserved for public education. In 1818, when Congress passed the act enabling the Illinois Territory to become a state, it granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale of land in each township’s Section 16. This money became known as the common school fund. In 1829, the General Assembly enacted legislation authorizing and governing the sale of school lands. The General Assembly revised this law in 1831.
“An Act to Enable the People of the Illinois Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States,” 18 April 1818, Statutes at Large of the United States, 3:428-31; W. L. Pillsbury, “Early Education in Illinois,” in Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1886), 106-07; “An Act Authorizing the Sale of Sections Numbered Sixteen, or Such Land as May be Granted, in Lieu Thereof, to the Inhabitants of Such Townships, for the Use of Schools,” 22 January 1829, Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois (1829), 150-54; “An Act to Amend an Act, Entitled ‘An Act Authorizing the Sale of Sections Numbered Sixteen, or Such Land as May be Granted in Lieu Thereof to the Inhabitants of Such Townships, for the Use of Schools, Approved Jan. 22, 1829,’” 15 February 1831, Laws of Illinois (1831), 172-76.