Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 27, 1837.

AN ACT to vacate part of a State road leading from Rushville in Schuyler county, to Commerce in Hancock county.
1

State road from Rushville to Commerce.

Disannulled & vacated.

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 leading from Rushville in Schuyler county, to

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Commerce in Hancock county, lying between Jarvis’ creek and the court House in the town of Carthage, be and the same is hereby disannulled and vacated.

Road declared a State road.

Sec. 2. And that the county road laid out under an order of the county commissioners court, of Hancock county, granted at their September term 1836, commencing at the public square in the town of Carthage, running out at the east end of south main street, and in a south east direction so as to intersect the aforesaid State road at Jarvis’ creek, be and the same is hereby declared a State road, and shall be worked and kept in repair as other State roads are.2

Approved, January 27, 1837.

1On December 27, 1836, Thomas H. Owen in the Senate introduced the petition of citizens of Hancock County, requesting alteration of a certain state road. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on State Roads. In response to this petition, John S. Hacker of the Committee on State Roads introduced SB 24 in the Senate on December 30. On December 31, the Senate passed the bill. On January 21, 1837, the House of Representatives concurred, and on January 27, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 169, 172, 314, 322, 378, 393; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 109, 125, 140, 145, 277, 290, 299, 309.

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.