Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Resolved by the people of the state of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly, That, our Senators in Congress is hereby instructed and our Representatives requested to use all their best exertions to procure the passage of a law of Congress granting to the state of Illinois a preemption for the term of ten years, on the alternate section, of public lands lying within three miles of l on each side of the third principal maredian,2 in this state, for the purpose of aiding the state in constructing a Rail Road from the mouth of the Ohio River, to ottoway, on the Illinois river or near that point so as to, terminate at some point on the Illinois & Michigan Canal 3

Resolved That, for and in consideration of the said, grant of lands the said rail road when completed & for the term of twenty years ^thereafter^ shall remain free for the passage of the United States officers, soldiers and ^(1)^ munitions of war,4

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M^r Dougherty

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15

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Resolution praying Congress for a preemtion on land certain lands

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[12]/[19]/[1836]
C. W. H[Committee of the Whole House]

1On December 19, 1836, John Dougherty introduced the resolutions in the House of Representatives. The House amended the first resolution by striking out the words, “third principal meridian,” and inserting in lieu thereof the words,“on each side of the contemplated Central Rail-Road.” Another representative moved to amend the first resolution by striking out all after the word “Resolved” and inserting in lieu thereof a substitute. The House referred the resolutions as amended and the proposed substitute to the first resolution to the Committee of the Whole, which took no further action.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 76-77.

2On December 19, 1836, the House of Representatives amended the resolution by striking out the words“third principal meridian,” and inserting in lieu thereof the words“on each side of the contemplated Central Rail-Road.”
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 76.

3The proposed substitute read as follows: “That a select committee be appointed to enquire into the propriety of memorializing Congress to grant to the State of Illinois a pre-emption right to each alternate section of land of each side of the third principle meridian, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a rail-road from the Illinois river, at or near the termination of the Illinois and Michigan Canal to the Ohio river--with instructions to report a memorial to Congress, if they think it expedient.”

4The idea of a central railroad from the mouth of the Ohio River to the Illinois River at or near the termination point of the Illinois and Michigan Canal began taking shape in the fall of 1835. In January 1836, the General Assembly passed an act incorporating a company to undertake construction of the railroad. The central railroad became a center point of the Illinois Internal Improvement System. In the act creating the system, the General Assembly appropriated $3,500,000 for a railroad from Cairo to the termination of the canal.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 57-59.