Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 27th Feb.[February] 1837.

AN ACT to change in part a State road leading from Meredocia to Quincy.
1

Commissioners appointed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That James Brown, Richard Briggs and Edward Perry be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to review and relocate that part of the State road2 leading from Meredocia in Morgan county, by Mount Sterling to Quincy in Adams county, which lies between James Ballard’s on the north west qrs.[quarter] of section 20, in 2 S[South], 2 west of the fourth principal meredian, and Phillip Briggs, in the north west qr. of sec. 17, in 2 S. 2 w[west], in the same township.3

Time and place of meeting.

Shall make a report of their proceedings

Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them, shall meet on or before the first day of May next, and being first duly sworn by some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge their duties herein required of them, shall proceed to execute the same, and on or before the first day of June next, shall make a report of their proceedings to the county commissioners court of Schuyler county, and said court shall cause said road to be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are,

Compensation.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall receive for their services a reasonable compensation, to be paid out of the county treasury by order of said county court: so much of said road as said commissioners shall deem expedient to change is hereby vacated.

Approved, 27th February, 1837.

1On January 30, 1837, William A. Richardson in the House of Representatives presented a petition from citizens of Schuyler County, requesting a change in a part of a state road, and the House referred the bill to a select committee. In response to this petition, Richardson of the select committee introduced HB 169 in the House on February 3,. On February 8, the House passed the bill. On February 23, the Senate passed the bill. On February 27, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 462, 520, 686, 725, 739; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 480-81, 494-95, 530-31.

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.

3Located near Versailles in what would become Brown County.
“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.