Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 15th, 1837.

AN ACT to locate a State road from Equality to Vienna.
1

Commissioners appointed to view road from Equality to Vienna.

Report &c.[etc.]

Declared a state road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John Morse and Samuel Hazel of Pope county, James Grissam of Johnson county, and Levi N. Walsten of Gallatin county,2 be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, lay out and mark, a road from Equality in Gallatin county, to Vienna in Johnson county, by the nearest and most eligible route for the same, having in view the most suitable ground for the location thereof, and report the same together with a description thereof, under their hands to the county commissioners courts of said counties of Gallatin, Pope, and Johnson, on or before the first term after the said view, and the number of days employed by them respectively in the said work, and the said road when so

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viewed, marked, and reported, shall be deemed a state road, and kept in repair as other state roads are.3

Meet at Vienna

To be sworn.
Duty.

Compensation

Sec. 2. The said commissioners or a majority of them shall on or before the first Monday in September next, or within thirty days thereafter, meet at the town of Vienna, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, proceed to lay out said road as is directed in the preceding section, and the county commissioners courts of the counties of Pope and Johnson, shall allow each of said commissioners a sum equal to two dollars per day, for every day they shall be engaged in viewing and marking said road, the county of Pope paying the two commissioners from Pope, for so far as the same shall be in Gallatin and Pope counties, and the county of Johnson paying the one commissioner from Johnson, so far as the same shall be in Gallatin and Johnson counties.

Approved February 15, 1837.

1On January 20, 1837, James A. Whiteside introduced SB 99 in the Senate. On January 24, the Senate passed the bill. On January 27, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 31 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. On February 6, the House passed the bill as amended. On February 10, the Senate concurred in the House’s amended version of 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., 373, 412, 439, 488, 550, 571; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 261-62, 276, 285, 360, 388, 400-401, 434.

2On January 31, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding Levi N. Walsten to the list of commissioners.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 439.

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.