Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Amendment to "A Bill to Establish the Counties of Menard, Logan, and Dane," [6 February 1839]1

Amend the amendment of the Senate by striking out all from the word “Begining” to the word “miles” both inclusive, and insert the following—

“Begining at the South West corner of Section Three in Township Seventeen North of Range Six West; thence North four miles”2

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Am^t[Amendment] H R. to amts[amendments] of Senate

adopted—

1Written by Abraham Lincoln, this amendment amended a Senate amendment to a bill penned and introduced by Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives on January 16, 1839. On February 6, the Senate passed the amendment, which in part added two provisos to the fourth section of Lincoln’s bill. Later that same day, the House concurred in the Senate amendment with minor modifications, but Lincoln moved to re-consider that vote and offered his amendment to the Senate amendment, which the House approved. The Senate passed the bill as amended on February 7. The Council of Revision approved the bill on February 15, and Lincoln’s amendment became part of the act that became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 217-18, 357; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 287, 291.

2The first proviso of the Senate amendment, which Lincoln sought to amend, dealt with the boundaries of Menard County. The first proviso proscribed that if the commissioners appointed to locate the county seat of Menard chose a location on the west or left side of the Sangamon river, then, and in that case, the lines of said county would be changed from those described in section one of the bill. What Lincoln proposed to strike out reads as follows: “Beginning at the South West corner of section thirty four in Township Eighteen North of Range Six West; thence North 3 miles.”