In force, Mar.[March] 2, 1839.
AN ACT for the relief of Henry county.
1Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the Fund Commissioners2 be, and they are hereby, required to pay to the county commissioners’ court of Henry county the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, being a part of the balance due the county
of Knox from the appropriation made to certain counties by the law to establish and maintain a general system of internal improvement.3 This act to take effect from and after its passage.
Approved, March 2, 1839.
1On February 20, 1839, Jesse M. McCutcheon introduced HB 357, originally titled “A Bill to Improve a Certain Road Therein Named,” in the House of Representatives. The House referred the bill to the Committee on State Roads. The Committee on
State Roads reported back the bill on February 26 with an amendment, in which the
House concurred. On February 27, the House passed the bill as amended, amending the
title so as to read “A Bill for the Relief of Henry County.” The Senate passed the bill on March 1. On March 2, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess.,
458, 517, 522, 544, 587, 593, 603; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 452, 490, 496.
2Section one of the internal improvement act created a three-person board of fund commissioners to negotiate loans, buy and sell
bonds, deposit and withdraw money, and administer the various fiscal aspects of the
internal improvement program.
3Section eighteen, sub-section fifteen, of the internal improvement 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. Knox County had received $5,850.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 83-84; Sangamo Journal 12 January 1839, 2:1.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1839), 243, GA Session: 11-1,