Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 24th Feb.[February] 1837.

AN ACT to change a part of the State road from Hillsboro’ to Alton.
1

State road changed.

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 running from Hillsboro in Montgomery county to Alton, in Madison county, that runs through the lands of Phillip Carlew be, and the same is hereby so changed as to run from the north end of said Carlew’s lane due north eighty rods, thence east eighty rods so as to intersect the said State road again.

Deemed a state road when changed.

Sec. 2. the said road when so changed shall be deemed a State road, and shall be kept in repair as such.

This act to be in force from and after its passage.2

Approved, 24th February, 1837.

1On January 26, 1837, Larkin Craig, a member of a select committee considering a petition of citizens of Montgomery County for a change to a state road, introduced SB 121 in the Senate. On February 2, the Senate passed the bill. On February 20, the House of Representatives passed the bill. On February 24, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 453, 565-66, 652, 678; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 299, 328, 336, 470, 491-492, 512-513.

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.