Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 3d, 1837.

AN ACT to lay out a State road from Shawneetown to Equality.
1

Commissioners appointed

On best route.

Powers.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John Crenshaw, Henry Eddy, and Joel Holiday be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to mark and lay out a road2 from Equality, across the north fork of Saline and Cypress creeks, to Shawneetown on the best and most eligible route, as to ground and crossing, having a due regard to straightness of direction, and they or any two of them are hereby authorised to expend any unexpended balance of an appropriation heretofore made, which was to have been expended by said Eddy and Crenshaw, and they are hereby au-

<Page 2>
thorised to change by contract, the location of the bridge heretofore made across Cypress to suit the road herein provided for.3

Approved 3d March, 1837.

1On February 13, 1837, William J. Gatewood introduced SB 201 in the Senate. On February 21, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 22 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. On February 23, the Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 28, the House of Representatives passed the bill. On March 3,Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 686, 760, 820; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 404, 478, 486, 494, 582, 608-609, 611-12.

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.

3Section seven of an act relating to the Gallatin Saline Lands passed in 1836 appropriated $1000 to Crenshaw and Eddy to improve a road from Equality to Shawneetown.