Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb. 2, 1839.

AN ACT to provide for the collection of demands growing out of contracts for sales of the possession of the public lands.
1

Contracts for claimed lands valid.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all contracts, promises, assumpsits, or undertakings in writing, which shall here-

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after be made in good faith and without fraud, collusion, or circumvention, for sale, purchase or payment to be made for the possession of claimed lands owned by the Government of the United States, shall be deemed valid in law and equity, and may be sued for and recovered as in other cases.

Sales of improvements on public lands.

Sec. 2. That the act, entitled “An act to provide for the collection of demands growing out of contracts for sales of improvements on public lands,” approved February fifteenth, 1831, be hereafter construed to apply as well to contracts, promises, assumpsits, or undertakings, made subsequent as to those made previous to the purchase of said lands from the Government of the United States.2

[ certification ]
Field, Alexander P.

This bill having remained with the Council of Revision ten days, and the General Assembly being in session, it has become a law this second day of February, 1839.
A. P. FIELD, Secretary of State.

1George Churchill introduced HB 2 to the House of Representatives on December 8, 1838. The House referred it to the Committee on the Judiciary on December 10. The Committee reported back on December 15, recommending sundry amendments, to which the House concurred. Representatives proposed two additional amendments, which the House rejected, the latter of which by a vote of 38 yeas to 44 nays, Abraham Lincoln voting nay. On December 19, the House passed the bill. The Senate referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary on December 22. The committee reported back the bill with sundry amendments on January 5, 1839, to which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill sometime before January 16, when the House passed the amended version. The Council of Revision did not rule on the bill in 10 days, so it became law on February 2.
Illinois House Journal, 11th G.A., 1st sess., 50, 54, 88-90, 109, 117, 184, 219, 237; Illinois Senate Journal, 11th G.A., 1st sess, 95, 98, 104, 135, 180, 190, 202.

2The only difference in the language of the two laws was “lands owned by the government” in the 1831 law as opposed to “claimed lands owned by the government” in this new law.
“An Act to Provide for the Collection of Demands Growing Out of Contracts for Sales of Improvements on Public Lands,” approved 15 February 1831, The Laws of Illinois (1831), 82.