Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb 12, 1839.

AN ACT laying out a State road in Alexander county.
1

Com’rs[Commissioners] to locate road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That David H. Moore, John Kirkwood, and William Echols, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate, a road from Caledonia, in Alexander county, to the town of America, Marseilles,2 and Unity, to the town of Santa Fee, on the Mississippi river.

Time and place of meeting.

Sec. 2. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at the town of Caledonia, on the first Monday in April next, or within two months thereafter, and proceed to view, mark, and locate said road, on the nearest and most elible[eligible] ground, doing as little damage to private property as possible.

Declared public road.

Sec. 3. When said road shall be located and established, it shall be deemed a public highway, and may be opened, worked, and kept in repair as other State roads are.3

Compensation of commissioners.

Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ court of said county may make such reasonable allowance to the road commissioners named in this act, as to them may seem reasonable and just, to be paid out of the county treasury.

Approved, February 12, 1839.

1John S. Hacker introduced SB 123 to the Senate on January 22, 1839. The Senate passed the bill on January 25. The House of Representatives passed the bill on February 9. The Council of Revision approved the bill on February 12 and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 287, 321, 370, 386, 578; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 209, 225-226, 306, 313, 323.

2Marseilles in Alexander County never incorporated and did not persist, and its exact location is unknown.
Illinois Counties and Incorporated Municipalities (Springfield: Jesse White, Secretary of State, 2012).

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.