Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 21st July, 1837.

AN ACT to relocate the county seat of Calhoun County.
1

Petition.

Seat of justice.

Duty of county commissioners court.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That at any regular or special term of the county commissioners court of the county of Calhoun, which may be held within nine months from the passage of this act, at which a petition signed by one hundred legal votes of said county shall be presented, praying that an election may be held in said county for the purpose of removing and relocating the seat of justice thereof, it shall be the duty of the county commissioners court to order an election to be held in accordance to the wishes of the said petitioners, within thirty days after the expiration

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of the term of the court to which such petition may have been presented.

Election how held.

Said election shall be held at the same places, and be conducted as near as may be in the same manner as the general elections are.

If no place is elected another election shall be held.

Sec. 2. The judges and clerks of said election shall make a column in their books at the several precincts, at the head of which shall be written the name of the place voted for by the several voters, and the place receiving the highest number of votes, provided that number shall be a majority of the whole number given, shall be and remain the seat of justice for said county from that time forward, or soon thereafter as suitable buildings can be prepared, but if no one place voted for shall have received a majority of the votes polled, then and in that case it shall be the duty of the clerk of the county court of said county to give notice in the several precincts that no one of the places voted for did receive a majority of the votes, and that another election will be held four weeks from the day on which the first election was held; in which notices the said clerk shall state the number of votes given at the former election for the several places, and at the time of holding the second election the voters shall vote for one or the other of the two places which received the highest number of votes at the first election; and the place receiving the highest number of votes at the second election shall be the county seat.

Act repealed.

Sec. 3. The act entitled “an act to relocate the county seat of Calhoun county,” approved the fourth day of March, 1837, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

All lands and lots to be reconveyed within 2 months.

And all lands and building lots conveyed by the proprietors of the town of Guilford to the county commissioners, for the use of the said county, agreeably to the requisitions of said act, shall be reconveyed to the proprietors of said town within two months from the passage of this act, otherwise this act shall be null and void.

Approved, 21st July, 1837.

1John Allen introduced SB 13 in the Senate on July 13, 1837. On July 14, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on July 15 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended on July 17. The House of Representatives concurred on July 20. 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), 91, 95, 107, 136, 174; 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), 45, 51, 53-54, 72-73, 118-19, 141, 146.