Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 7th Feb[February]., 1837.

AN ACT to alter a part of the State road leading from Gilead in Calhoun county, to Rushville in Schuyler county.
1

Road changed and to run on county road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That so much of the state road running from Gilead in Calhoun county, to Rushville in Schuyler county, approved January 7th 1836, as runs through the lands of Henry Hills and John S. Scott, on the west half of section thirty-one, in township two north, in range one west of the fourth principal meridian,2 is hereby altered, and the said state road hereafter is to run upon the same ground that the county road is now located, and runs upon, or upon so much of said county road as will be necessary in order to alter that portion of the state road which runs through the aforesaid lands of Hills and Scott.3

This act to take effect from and after its passage.

Approved 7th Feb. 1837.

1On December 17, 1836, William A. Richardson in the House of Representatives present the petition of various citizens, requesting a change in part of the state road leading from Gilead to Rushville. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. Responding to this petition, Stephen A. Douglas of the Committee on Petitions introduced HB 139 in the House on January 21, 1837. On January 25, the House passed the bill. On February 3, the Senate passed the bill. On February 7, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 317, 383-84, 469, 483, 505; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 301, 339, 343, 351.

2Located just south of Rushville.
“Counties, Townships, and Ranges in Illinois,” Maps, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference html files/LandMeasurement.html.

3State 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.