In force March 4, 1837.
AN ACT supplemental to the “act to establish and maintain a general system of Internal Improvements.”
1Fund commissioners to transfer stock and bonds.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the board of fund commissioners, created by the act to which this is a supplement,2 shall take and use all proper means and measures for the transfering the stock authorized to be constituted by said act, and also for the transfering all state bonds authorized to be made and executed under the provisions of this act,
and it shall be deemed a good execution of the power to borrow, to cause the said
certificates of stock and state bonds to be sold; provided that said stock and bonds
shall not, in any event be sold for less than par value.3
Governor to execute bonds in behalf of State
Bonds how countersigned
Sec. 2. The Governor of the State is authorized and required, whenever requested by the said fund commissioners, to
execute bonds for and in behalf of the State, for any sum or sums of money which may be borrowed, under the provisions of this
and the act to which this is a supplement, in any foreign language, stipulating for the payment
of the interest and principal, in such foreign currency and country as shall be found
most beneficial for the interest of the State; which bonds shall be signed by the Governor, countersigned by the Auditor of public
accounts with the impress of the great seal of state affixed thereto, and shall be
delivered to the fund commissioners.4
Fund commissioners may appoint agents
Sec. 3. The fund commissioners are authorized to appoint one or more agents, with full power
to negotiate the loans, and make sale of the state bonds and certificates of stock
in any foreign country, and to vest the said agent or agents with as full and ample
powers as are by law vested in the said fund commissioners.
State engages to pay principal and interest of all sums borrowed
Sec. 4. The State hereby engages and agrees to provide sufficient revenues and means to pay the interest
and principal of all sums of money, which under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement, may be borrowed as the same becomes due and payable,5 and the faith of the State is hereby irrevocably pledged to comply with the provisions of this section.6
Approved 4th March, 1837.
1Originating in the Senate on or before February 25, 1837, the Senate passed the bill on or before February
25. On March 2, the House of Representatives rejected an amendment to the first section by a vote of 21 yeas to 46 nays, with
Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The House passed the bill by a vote of 55 yeas to 17 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. On March 4, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 719, 763, 797-98, 843; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 640.
2Section one of the act created a three-person board of fund commissioners to negotiate loans, buy and sell
bonds, deposit and withdraw money, and administer the various fiscal aspects of the
internal improvement program.
3Section twenty-one of the act authorized the fund commissioners to issue certificates of internal improvement stock
to fund the internal improvement system.
4Section twenty of the internal improvement act created a internal improvement fund to finance construction of the internal improvement system. Part of the revenue was to come from the sale of state bonds.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 152, GA Session: 10-1