Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Zadok Casey, Stinson H. Anderson, Joel Pace, John Johnson, William S. Vancleve, Edward H. Ridgway, Downing Baugh, Hezekiah B. Newby, Thomas Cunningham, Harvey T. Pace, and their successors, be, and they are hereby, created a body politic and corporate, to be styled and known by the name of “The president and trustees of the Mount Vernon Academy,” and by that style and name to remain and have perpetual succession. The said academy shall be and remain at or near Mount Vernon, in Jefferson county, and the State of Illinois. The number of trustees shall not exceed twelve, one of whom shall be president of the board, to be chosen by the trustees. For the present the above named individuals shall constitute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their discretion.

Sec. 2. The object of said corporation shall be the promotion of the general interest of education.

Sec. 3. The corporate powers hereby bestowed shall be such only as are essential or useful in the attainment of said object, and such as are usually conferred on similar bodies corporate, to wit: To have perpetual succession; to make contracts; to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded; to grant and receive by its corporate name, and to do all other things as natural persons may; to accept, acquire, purchase, or sell property, real, personal, or mixed, in all lawful ways; to use, employ, manage, and dispose of all such property, and all money belonging to said corporation, in such manner as shall seem to the trustees best adapted to promote the objects beforementioned; to have a common seal, and to alter or change the same; to make such by-laws for its regulation as are not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States or of this State; and to confer on such persons as may be considered worthy such academical or honorary degrees as are usually conferred by similar institutions.

Sec. 4. The trustees of said corporation, shall have authority, from time to time, to prescribe and regulate the course of studies to be pursued in said academy; to fix the rate of tuition, and other academical expenses; to appoint instructors, and such other officers and agents as may be necessary in managing the concerns of the institution; to define their duties; to fix their compensation; to displace or remove them; to erect necessary buildings; to purchase books, chemical and philosophical apparatus, and other suitable means of instruction; to make rules for the general regulation of the conduct of the students.

Sec. 5. The trustees for the time being, in order to have perpetual succession, shall have power to fill any vacancy

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which may occur in the board from death, removal, resignation, or any other cause; and a majority of the trustees for the time being shall be a quorum to do business.

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the said trustees to appoint one of their number treasurer to the board, who shall be required to give bond, with sufficient security, in such penal sum as the board may prescribe, conditioned for the performance of such duties as the by-laws may require of him.

Sec. 7. The said institution shall be open to all denomination of christians, and the profession of any particular religious faith shall not be required of those who become students; nor shall any teacher, trustee, or other person be allowed or permitted to use any means of influence in order to induce any of said students to subscribe to any particular creed or faith, or to attend on or at any particular church or place of worship to the exclusion of any other; all persons, however, may be suspended or expelled from saidinstitution by the trustees thereof, whose habits are idle or vicious, or whose moral character is bad.

Sec. 8. The lands and tenements and hereditaments to be held in perpetuity, by virtue of this act, by said corporation, shall not exceed six hundred and forty acres: Provided, however, That if donations, grants, or devises in land, shall from time to time be made to said corporation, over and above the said six hundred and forty acres, which may be held in perpetuity as aforesaid, the same may be received and held by said corporation for the period of five years from the date of any such donation, grant, or devise; at the end of which time, if the said land shall not have been sold by said corporation, then and in that case such lands so donated, granted, or devised, shall revert to the donor, grantor, or the heirs of the devisor of the same.

Sec. 9. There shall also be attached to the said academy a department in which shall be taught branches that are usually taught in common schools, which shall constitute the common school of the district in which said academy may be situated; and the trustees of said academy shall receive from the school commissioner of the county the same amount of money, in the same proportion, and apply the same to such tuition in the same, as other common schools are paid and kept: Provided, That the teachers or instructors of said department shall be selected by the trustees, and under the control of the by-laws of said corporation.

Sec. 10. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, February 15, 1839.