Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 4th March 1837

AN AC T to review and relocate part of the State road from Galena to Chicago.
1

Commissioners to relocate road

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly,2 That James Harrington and Mark Daniels, of Kane county, and John Phelps of Ogle county be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to review and relocate that part of the State road3 leading from Chicago to Galena which lies between said Chicago and Oregon city.

When and where to meet

To make report of proceedings

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Chicaga on the first day of May next, or as soon thereafter as convenient, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge the duties herein required of them, shall proceed to execute the same, and they are hereby required to make a report of their proceedings to the county commissioners’ courts of the respective counties through which said road shall pass, and said courts shall cause said road to be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.

Compensation of commissioners

Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall receive for their services a reasonable compensation, to be paid in equal proportion out the county treasuries of the respective counties through which said road shall pass by order of the county commissioners’ courts so much of the road as said commissioners shall deem it expedient to change, is hereby vacated.

This act to take effect from and after its passage.

Approved, 4th March, 1837.

1William Thomas introduced SB 113, originally titled “A Bill to Provide for Paying Contractors upon the Illinois and Michigan Canal,” in the Senate on January 24, 1837. On January 25, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 27 with an amendment. The Senate amended the amendment by inserting the word “March” after the word “February.” The Senate concurred with the amendment as amended. The Senate further amended the bill by adding a proviso. Senators offered further amendment, and the Senate referred the bill and proposed amendment to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 30 with an amendment to the proposed amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate re-considered this vote, amending the proposed amendment by striking out “$15,000,” and inserting “$30,000” in lieu thereof. The Senate adopted the amendment as amended and passed the bill as amended. On February 3, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on Roads and Canals, with instructions to determine whether the contractors were owned any money under their existing contracts. The Committee on Roads and Canals reported back on February 10 10 that no money was due to canal contractors until work had been officially completed on the canal. On February 18, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 25 with an substitute, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as substituted, amended the title to read “A Bill to Renew and Relocate Part of the State Road from Galena to Chicago.” On March 1, the Senate concurred in the House substitute. On March 4, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 433, 469, 546-48, 642-43, 710, 820, 842; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 282, 294, 305-306, 316-17, 537, 569-70, 608-609, 625-26.

2On February 25, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by striking all after the enacting clause and inserting a substitute. The substitute became the act. The substitute bill text does not exist.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 710.

3State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.