Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 21st July, 1837.

AN ACT further supplemental to an act to establish and maintain a General System of Internal Improvement.
1
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the commissioners of public works2 be and they are hereby authorized and required, as soon as practicable3, to proceed to the survey, location and construction of the several routes of railroad, and other public improvements, indicated by the act to which this is a supplement, any thing in the fifteenth section of said act to the contrary notwithstanding.4

Approved 21st July, 1837.

1William J. Gatewood introduced the bill in the Senate on July 10, 1837. On July 11, the Senate refused to engross the bill for a third reading. On July 13, the Senate re-considered this vote, tabling the bill. On July 15, the Senate took up the bill, amending it by striking out the words “without delay,” and inserting in lieu thereof the words “as soon as practicable.” On July 17, the Senate tabled the bill. The Senate later took up the bill, rejecting it by a vote of 16 yeas to 17 nays. On July 18, the Senate re-considered it previous vote, now approving the bill by a vote of 20 yeas to 17 nays. On July 19, the House of Representatives refused to table the bill until July 4 by a vote of 36 yeas to 48 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. On July 20, the House passed the bill by a vote of 44 yeas to 28 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. On July 21, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 103, 106, 121-22, 139-40, 174; Illinois Senate Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 5, 39, 46, 60, 73, 78, 86, 118-19, 141, 146.

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

3On July 15, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by striking out the words “without delay,” and inserting the words “as soon as practicable.”
Illinois Senate Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 60.

4Section fifteen set the conditions and reservations for entering into contracts associated with the internal improvement system. Sub-contracting was prohibited. By June 1837, the Board of Public Works reported that the Northern Cross, the Mount Carmel and Alton, and portions of the Illinois Central Railroad were under survey. By fall, surveys had been completed on all the railroads and on the Great Western Mail Route.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 80.