Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 3, 1837

AN ACT for a State road from Griggsville via Portland to Joshua Hank’s in Greene county.
1

Commissioners appointed to view road from Griggsville via Portland to Hank’s.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That James A. Collins of Pike county, and Joshua Hanks of Greene county, and Robert Sands of Morgan county be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and lay out a state road2 from Griggsville via Portland in Pike county,3 to Joshua Hank’s in Greene county.4

When and where to meet

To be sworn
Oath.

Duty.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them shall meet at Griggsville on the first Monday of April next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace of said Pike county, well and truly to perform the duties required of them by this act, according to the best of their skill and ability, they shall proceed to view, mark, and lay out said road agreeable to the first section of this act, locating said road on the nearest and most practicable route.

To make report and file the same and where.

Duty of co. court.

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall make reports of all the principal points of said road, and file the same with the clerks of the county commissioner’s courts through which any part of said road may pass, within thirty days after having located the same, which report shall be laid before the several county commissioner’s courts at their next term by their clerk, whose duty it shall be to cause the same to be recorded in the records of said court, and said road shall be opened and kept in repair as other state roads are.

Compensation

Sec. 4. Said commissioners shall receive such compensation for their services not exceeding two dollars per day, as the commissioner’s courts of the counties through which said road shall pass, may deem just, to be paid out of the treasuries of said counties.5

Approved March 3d, 1837.

1On February 8, 1837, Isaac Courtright introduced HB 183 in the House of Representatives. On February 15, the House passed the bill. On February 22, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 24 with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. On February 25, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 28, the House concurred with the Senate amendments. On March 3, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 314, 510, 599, 718, 764, 816, 829; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 445, 489, 505, 520-21, 604.

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.

3No place named Portland could be located in Pike County.

4On February 24, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by adding Robert Sands as a commissioner instead of Jonathan Piper.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 505.

5On February 24, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by removing references to surveyors and chain-men in the third and fourth sections.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 505.