Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 4, 1837.

AN ACT requiring Samuel Munday to pay over certain monies to the fund commissioners.
1

Duties required.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly That Samuel Munday, commissioner, appointed by the second section of an act approved Feb.[February] 12, 1833, relative to the improvement of the Great Wabash river, to expend certain moneys appropriated by said act, be and he is hereby required to pay over to the commissioners of public works2 appointed under an act to establish (and maintain) a system of internal improvement, any unexpended balance of said money he may have now in his hands on or before the first Monday in June 1837.3

Com’rs[Commissioners] to receipt for same.

Sec. 2. Said board of commissioners of public works or such commissioner as may have in his charge the superintendance of the improvement of the Great Wabash, shall receipt to the said Samuel Munday for such sum of money as may be so in his hands, which receipt shall be a full discharge for the amount specified in said receipt, for the improvement of the navigation of the said Wabash river and for no other purpose whatever; and the superintendance and direction of all such works on said river are hereby vested in said board.

Original object

Sec. 3. That the said board of commissioners of public works, or the acting commissioner of that district in

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which said Wabash river may be situated shall apply said money to its original object in the improvement of said river, in paying for such works and improvements as may be under contract and not yet adjusted, and also to apply the same in such manner as the said board may direct.

Successors.

Sec. 4. The said board of commissioners of public works shall be deemed and holden in law and equity as the successors of the said Samuel Mundy, commissioner as aforesaid, and all existing contracts entered into by the said commissioner in pursuance of the authority vested in him by the act above recited, shall be consummated and fulfilled by the said board of commissioners of public works, and the said Samuel Munday is hereby indemnified against all costs of suits, and liabilities arising under the said contracts entered into by him as commissioner as aforesaid, either severally or in conjunction with the commissioner on the part of the State of Indiana.

Act repealed.

Sec. 5. So much of said act of Feb. 12, 1833, as conflicts with the provisions of this act is hereby repealed.

Approved 4th March, 1837.

1William Thomas introduced SB 225, originally titled “An Bill to Regulate and Reduce the Fees of Clerks, Sheriffs, Judges of Probate, and Other Officers,” in the Senate on February 13, 1837. On February 21, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 23 with sundry amendments, in which the Senate concurred. On February 24, the Senate passed the bill as amended, amending the title so as to read, “A Bill Requiring Samuel Munday to Pay over Certain Moneys to the Fund Commissioners.” On February 28, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on Internal Improvements. The Committee on Internal Improvements reported back the bill on March 1 with sundry amendments, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended. The Senate approved the House amendments the same day. On March 4, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 718, 763, 774, 795, 848; Illinois SenateJournal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 406, 478, 492, 510, 520, 569, 570-71, 634, 639-40.

2Section four of the internal improvement act created a seven-person board of public works to promote, maintain, supervise, and direct the internal improvement system.

3Section two of the 1833 act authorized Munday to disburse money realized from the sale of lands in the Vermilion Saline Reserve for improvement of the Wabash River. Selling portions of the Saline Reserve Lands and appropriating the proceeds for river improvements and other public works was a forerunner to the Illinois Internal Improvement System. In 1827, the General Assembly petitioned Congress for permission to sell 30,000 acres in either Gallatin County or Vermilion County. Part of the proceeds arising therefrom was to go toward improving navigation on the Wabash River. An area on the Vermilion River in Vermilion County was eventually selected, and the General Assembly, anticipating congressional approval, enacted a law in 1829 establishing the mechanism for the sale and appropriating the revenue received therefrom. Section ten authorized that the net revenue generated from the sale of the first 10,000 acres was to go toward work on the Wabash. Money disbursed would be in conjunction with disbursements from Indiana. Section eighteen, sub-section one, of the internal improvement act appropriated $100,000 for improvement of the Wabash River, and authorized the Board of Public Works to work in conjunction with public works officials in Indiana in making the improvements.
“An Act concerning the Saline Reserves, a Penitentiary, and the Improvement of Certain Navigable Streams,” 15 February 1827, The Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois (1827), 353-60; “An Act Providing for the Sale of the Vermilion Saline Reserve, and Appropriating the Avails Thereof,” 19 January 1829, The Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois (1829), 143-49; “An Act Relative to the Money Appropriated to the Improvement of the Navigation of the Great Wabash River, Approved, January 19, 1829, and for Other Purposes,” 12 February 1833, The Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 609-11.