Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

A Bill for:
An Act to limit the punishment for Murder
1
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That hereafter the punishment of death shall not be inflicted for the crime of Murder, unless the evidence, upon which the accused person shall be positive convicted, is positive, and not circumstantial merely.

Sec. 2. That when any person shall be convicted of the crime of Murder, upon circumstantial evidence merely, he or she shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary, for any time not less than ten years, but may extend to life.

Sec. 3. That this act shall take effect, and be in force from and after its passage; any law to the contrary, notwithstanding

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N^o 166

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37

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A Bill for, An act to limit the punishment, for Murder.

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[02]/[18]/[1839]
Dawson
Walker of Ver
Henderson

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[02]/[18]/[1839]
2

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[02]/[21]/[1839]
lay table

1Isaac P. Walker introduced HB 222 in the House of Representatives on January 29, 1839. The House ordered the bill to a second reading by a vote of47 yeas to 21 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. On February 18, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 21 with an amendment. The House refused to indefinitely postpone further consideration of the bill and proposed amendment by a vote of 24 yeas to 41 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. Representatives offered additional amendments, and the House tabled the bill and all proposed amendments.
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), 300, 431, 472-73.