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Resolved.
By the Senate the House of Representatives concurring herein) that our Senators in Congress be instructed and our Representatives be requested to use their influence to procure the passage of ^a^ Law to grant to this state every alternate section of Land situated within three miles of of the Kankakee and Iroquois Rivers their full length in this state for the purpose of improving said Rivers from their mouths to the state line
By the Senate the House of Representatives concurring herein) that our Senators in Congress be instructed and our Representatives be requested to use their influence to procure the passage of ^a^ Law to grant to this state every alternate section of Land situated within three miles of of the Kankakee and Iroquois Rivers their full length in this state for the purpose of improving said Rivers from their mouths to the state line
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12/30/1836
12/30/1836
Resolution
Decr 30. 1836
Decr 30. 1836
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Alternate Sections of Land on Kankakee &c[etc] Rivers
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1On December 30, 1836, William Stadden introduced the resolution in the Senate, and the Senate adopted it. On the same day, nine representatives in the House of Representatives offered amendments to the bill, each proposing to add the name of a river in his
district. The final amendment proposed to add the words, “and all other navigable
rivers in this State.” The House voted refused to table the resolution and proposed amendments until July
4, 1837, by a vote of 13 yeas to 65 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. The House then referred the resolution and proposed amendments to the
Committee on Internal Improvements. The Committee on Internal Improvements reported
back the resolution on January 12, requesting to be discharged from further consideration,
which the House granted. On January 13, the House indefinitely postponed further consideration
of the resolution.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 143-45, 239, 252-53; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 127, 216.
2In 1822, Congress granted lands to the state for the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, setting a precedent that prompted a number of petitions in the 1820s and 1830s for
land to improve the navigation of the other rivers. Congress, however, largely ignored
these requests, giving attention only to the Mississippi River.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 13-14, 15-16.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Folder 496, GA Session 10-1, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,