Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb.[February] 28, 1839.

AN ACT to authorize the commissioners of Crawford county to appoint persons to locate a certain road therein named.
1

Com’rs[Commissioners] to locate road.

Course.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the county commissioners’ court of the county of Crawford are hereby authorized to appoint two or more competent persons, whose duty it shall be to view, mark, and locate, that part of the State road from the Wabash to Shelbyville leading from Palestine, by Richard Logan’s, sen., and Joshua Barber’s, approved January 31, 1837;2 thence, in a direction to intersect the State road as near John Howard’s, in Crawford county, as practicable, located under the act of January 16, 1836.3

Report to be made.

Pay of com’rs

Sec. 2. The persons appointed for the above purpose, after being sworn, shall, as soon as practicable, view, mark, and locate said road, and make a report to the clerk of the county commissioners’ court, who shall record the same; and when done, said road shall be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are; and shall receive out of the county treasury, for their services, such compensation as the county commissioners may deem right and just.

Approved, February 28, 1839.

1On February 11, 1839, Harmon Alexander introduced HB 284 in the House of Representatives. On February 15, the House passed the bill. On February 26, the Senate passed the bill. On February 28, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 377-78, 395, 415, 529, 549, 566; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 338-39, 430-31, 447-48.

2On this date, the General Assembly approved an act that vacated part of a road to be located under provisions of an act passed on January 16, 1836.

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.