Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 21st July, 1837.

AN ACT for the relief of Samuel A. Smallwood.
1

Duty of county commissioners to appoint commissioners to value land.

Make return to auditor to be filed.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the county commissioners of Macon county, be, and they are hereby authorized to appoint at least three disinterested freeholders of said county, remotely situated from the land herein required to be valued, who, after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace of said county, faithfully and honestly to do and perform the duties required of them by this act, shall, after having examined the same, proceed to value, without regard to the improvements, the southeast quarter of Section No. 5, Township No. 19, north, Range 3, east, of the third principal meridian, being the same whereon Samuel A. Smallwood resides, which shall be signed by said commissioners and forwarded to the Auditor of State, to be filed and kept in his office.

Expenses, how paid.

Sec. 2. After said valuation, so made and reported, it shall be competent for the said Samuel A. Smallwood, at any time between the advertisement of said land for sale, to pay into the Treasury of State, in gold or silver, the full amount of the valuation of said tract of land, as made by the commissioners aforesaid; Provided, That said valuation be not less than $1.25 per acre; and, Provided further, That all expenses of the valuation of said tract of land shall be paid by the said Samuel A. Smallwood.

Approved, 21st July, 1837.

1On July 11, 1837, William G. Reddick in the House of Representatives presented the petition of Samuel A. Smallwood and other citizens of Macon County, requesting the right of preemption to certain seminary lands. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Education. In response to this petition, William L. D. Ewing of the Committee on Education introduced HB 60 in the House on July 15. On July 18, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on July 21 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended. The Senate concurred on July 21. On July 21, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Tenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at a Special Session of the General Assembly, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, July 10, 1837 (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 9, 80, 112, 146, 167, 176, 182; Journal of the Senate of the Tenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at a Special Session, Begun and Held in Vandalia, July 10, 1837 (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 119, 121-22, 144.