Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 15th Feb.[February] 1837

AN ACT to locate a State road from Washington in Tazewell county, to Columbia in Putnam county.
1

To view road from Washington to Columbia.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Morgan Buckingham of Tazewell county, Robert Bird and Ira J. Fenn of Putnam county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a state road from Washington in Tazewell county, to Columbia in Putnam county.2

When and where to meet

Compensation

Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them, shall on or before October next, meet in the town of Columbia and proceed to view, mark, and locate said road on the nearest and best ground. Said commissioners shall be allowed for their compensation, whatever the county commissioners court shall see fit to allow, to be paid out of their county treasuries.

State road.

Sec. 3. Said road when located, shall be opened, worked and kept in repair as other state roads are.

Approved, February 15th, 1837.

1On January 3, 1837, Benjamin Mitchell in the Senate introduced a petition of citizens from Tazewell and Putnam counties, requesting the location of a state road from Washington to Columbia. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on State Roads. Responding to this petition, John S. Hacker of the Committee on State Roads introduced SB 52 in the Senate on January 6. On January 9, the Senate passed the bill. On February 8, the House of Representatives passed the bill. On February 15, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 223, 253, 388, 449, 520, 571; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 143, 160-61, 172, 176, 378, 400-401, 434.

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.