Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

An act to divorce Luiza goodman and Henry Brown goodman
1
Sec[Section] ¹^st Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois Represented in the general assembly that the bonds of Matrimony now existing betwen Henry Brown goodman and Luiza goodman formerly Luiza Stephens be and the is hereby completely annulled Set aside and desolved as fully and effec^t^ually as if no such bands had existed betwen them.2
this act to take effect and be in force from and after its pasage

<Page 2>

[ docketing ]
9

[ docketing ]
A Bill for an act to divorce Louiza Goodman

[ docketing ]
[12]/[19]/[1838]
2

[ docketing ]
[12]/[19]/[1838]
rejected.

1On December 12, 1838, Joseph Huey in the House of Representatives presented the petition of Louisa Goodman, requesting a divorce from her husband Henry Brown Goodman. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Huey of the aforesaid select committee introduced HB 19 in the House on December 14. On December 19, the House declined to engross the bill for a third reading.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 3, 1838 (Vandalia,IL: William Walters, 1838), 58, 84, 116.

2Although rare, legislative divorce was available in Illinois from 1818 until the Illinois Constitution of 1848, although there were no legislative divorces after 1838, when that body granted its last divorce by legislative act. After that time, all divorces in the state fell within the jurisdiction of the circuit courts.
Illinois Constitution, Article 3, Sec. 32 (1848); Eugene L. Gross and William L. Gross, An Index to All the Laws of the State of Illinois (Springfield: E. L. & W. L. Gross, 1869), 13; “An Act concerning Divorces,” approved 1 June 1827, The Revised Code of Laws of Illinois (1827), 181.