In force, Mar.[March] 2, 1839.
AN ACT authorizing the county commissioners’ court to construct certain roads in Greene county.
1Locati[ng] roads.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the county commissioners of Greene county shall, at the June term of said court, or at any regular term thereafter to be held during the present year, appoint three suitable persons who are residents in that part of Greene county south of the Macoupin creek; and three other persons who are residents in that portion of the said county which lies between Apple creek and Macoupin creek; also three other persons who reside in that part of the county which lies north of Apple creek, for the purpose of viewing, surveying, and permanently locating the roads from the
towns hereinafter mentioned.
Com’rs[Commissioners] to locate road from Jerseyville.
From Carollton.
From Whitehall.
Sec. 2. The three persons who may be appointed agreeable to the first section of this
act, in that part of the county lying south of the Macoupin, shall, with three months after their appointment, proceed to view, survey, and permanently locate a road from the town of Jerseyville to some point on the Mississippi or on the Illinois river, as may be prayed for by a petition of the citizens of that part of the county; the three persons who may be selected in that part of the county lying between Apple creek and Macoupin, agreeable to the provisions of the first section of this act, shall also, within
three months after their appointment, proceed to survey and permanently locate a road from the town of Carrollton to some point on the Illinois river as may be petitioned for by the citizens living in the centre part of the county; and the three persons living
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north of Apple creek, which may be appointed as above provided, who reside north of Apple creek, shall also, within three months after their appointment, proceed to survey and permanently locate a road from the town of Whitehall to some point on the Illinois river which may be petitioned for by the citizens who reside in that part of the county.
Sec. 3. In all cases arising under this act where there are conflicting opinions in regard
to the location and point of termination of the roads herein authorized to be made,
the county commissioners’ court shall authorize and direct that the two routes having the highest and greatest number
of petitioners shall be surveyed and viewed as directed in this act; and the viewers
shall decide and determine which of the two routes is the most preferable, and report
accordingly; which report shall be final; and the survey and reports, together with
plats of the same, shall be entered upon the records of said court; the reports and surveys to be made and returned at the next succeeding term of the
court.
Cost to be estimated.
Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ court of the said county shall, at the term of said court at which the viewers are appointed, select some competent person to estimate the probable costs of constructing the roads
herein authorized to be made, estimating the costs of each separately.
$18,000 set apart to open and construct roads.
Sec. 5. The sum of eighteen thousand dollars of the distributive share which the said county
of Greene has or may receive out of the two hundred thousand dollars belonging to certain counties
through which no railroad should run, agreeable to the “Act to create and maintain a general system of internal improvement,” 2shall be set apart and applied by said court for the purpose of opening, constructing, and improving said roads, as by this act
laid out, in the manner that said court may order and direct.
Agents to let contracts.
To be sworn.
Compensation.
Sec. 6. The said county commissioners’ court shall have power and authority to appoint an agent or agents, whose duty it shall
be to let and and enter into contracts with responsible individuals to construct the roads herein authorized
to be made, under any order, or agreeable to the rules and regulations made by said
courts. The said agents and viewers, and the individuals which may be appointed to make
the estimates as directed in the fourth section of this act, shall severally, before
they enter upon their respective duties, take an oath faithfully and impartially to perform their respective duties to the
best of their ability and judgment; which oath shall be administered by the clerk
of the said county commissioners’ court, or by any justice of the peace; and each person appointed agreeable to the provisions of this act shall receive a
compensation out of the county treasury, not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents
for each day which they may be employed in performing the duties required by this
act.
Money, how appropriated.
Sec. 7. The sum set apart as mentioned in the fifth section shall be expended on the several
roads herein contem -
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plated to be constructed, in proportion to the sum necessary to construct the same, agreeable to the estimates made as directed in the
fourth section of this act.
If Jersey co. is organized,
sum set apart reduced to $12,000.
Sec. 8. If the county of Jersey shall become organized as one of the counties of this State agreeable to the provisions of an act passed at the present session of the General Assembly creating said county conditionally, then, and in that case, so much of this act as relates to that portion
of the county of Greene as now organized, which may constitute and form the said county of Jersey, shall be null and void; and the sum applied an set apart, mentioned in the fifth section of this act, shall
be reduced to the sum of twelve thousand dollars, to be expended on the roads from
the towns of Carrollton and Whitehall, in accordance to the provisions of this act; and all expenses and liabilities incurred
by the county of Greene in executing this law in said county of Jersey, shall stand as a credit to the county of Greene in adjusting and settling the account between said counties touching the distributive
share of the two hundred thousand dollars mentioned in the fifth section of this act.3
Approved, March 2, 1839.
1On February 20, 1839, John Allen introduced HB 348 in the House of Representatives. The House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported
back the bill on February 25 with amendments, in which the House concurred. On February
27, the House passed the bill as amended. On the same day, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Internal Improvements. The Committee on Internal
Improvements reported back the bill on March 1 with amendments. The Senate amended
the amendments by adding a new section. The Senate adopted the amendments as amended,
referring the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the
bill with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as
amended. That same day, the House rejected the Senate amendments. The Senate refused
to recede from its amendments, creating a committee of conference to resolve the disagreeing
vote of the two houses. The House followed suit, forming its own committee of conference.
The committee of conference reported back the bill, recommending concurrence of the
House in the Senate amendments. The House refused to concur with the committee of
conference’s report. The House refused to table a motion to reconsider this decision
by a vote of 27 yeas to 40 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The House agreed to reconsider nonconcurrence with the committee of conference’s
report by a vote of 42 yeas to 24 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. The House again
refused to concur with the committee of conference’s report by a vote of 30 yeas to
35 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. On March 2, the Senate receded from its amendments. On the same day, theCouncil of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess.,
457, 507, 533, 573-74, 576, 582, 584-85, 597, 602, 606; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 443, 468, 469, 482, 487, 491, 494, 499, 508.
2Section eighteen, sub-section fifteen, of the act appropriated $200,000 to counties through which no railroad or canal was provided
at the expense of the State. This money was to be distributed proportionally based on the most recent census.
The money was to be used to improve roads, build bridges, and construct other necessary
public works. By December 1838, the fund commissioners had distributed $145,510
to sixteen counties. There appears to be some discrepancy on the amount distributed.
Krenkel and the Sangamo Journal cite the total as $144,700, but a tabulation of the figures printed in the Sangamo
Journal results in $145,510. Greene County had received $30,205. The County Commissioners Court loaned out a portion of this money, but devoted other portions to building bridges
across Apple Creek and Macoupin Creek, improving roads between Carrollton and Whitehall, and other public works.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 83-84; Sangamo Journal 12 January 1839, 2:1; History of Greene County, Illinois (Chicago: Donnelley, Gassette, and Loyd, 1879), 294.
Printed Document, 3 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1839), 257-59, GA Session: 11-1,