Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Report of Select Committee on “A Bill for the Organization of the County of Van Buren,” 21 December 18361

The select committee to whom was refered the [bill] for the organization of the county of Van Buren, report the same back without amendment, except filling the blank in the second line of the third section of the original bill with the word “first”2

1Responding to petitions from citizens of Sangamon and Morgan Counties, Stephen A. Douglas from the Committee on Petitions made a report and introduced HB 17 in the House of Representatives on December 20, 1836. The same day, the House referred the bill to a select committee, of which Abraham Lincoln was a member. On December 21, Lincoln, on behalf of the select committee, reported back the bill with these amendments, written entirely in his handwriting.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 55, 82-83, 89-90, 92-93, 94, 123, 683.

2In 1836, Sangamon County encompassed parts of the present-day counties of Christian, Logan, Menard, and Mason. The new county proposed by this bill would have included present-day southern Mason County and most of present-day Menard County.