Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Mar.[March] 2, 1839.

AN ACT to incorporate the Golconda Seminary.
1

Body politic.

Name & style.

Location.

Trustees.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Wm. Sim, Samuel W. Hodge, John P. Hodge, Elijah B. Franklin, Philip Vineyard, John Raum, Samuel Roper, Newton D. Clark, and Jason B. Smith, and their successors, be, and they are hereby, created a body politic and corporate, by the name of “The trustees of the Golconda Seminary,” and, by that name and style, to remain and have perpetual succession. The said seminary shall be and remain at or near Golconda, in the county of Pope, and State of Illinois. The number of trustees shall not exceed nine, exclusive of the principal, or presiding officer, who shall, ex officio, be a member of the board of trustees; but no other instructor shall be a member of said board. For the present the aforesaid individuals shall constitute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their pleasure.

Object.

Sec. 2. The primary object of the said institution shall be the education of the youth of the country, and to fit and prepare them for the various duties of life.

Powers.

Sec. 3. The corporate powers hereby bestowed shall be the following, viz: To have perpetual succession; to make contracts; to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded; and to grant and receive by their corporate name; to accept, acquire, purchase, or sell property, real, personal, or mixed, in

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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 object above mentioned; to have a common seal, and alter and change the same at pleasure; to make such by-laws for the regulation of said institution as are not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this State.

Further powers.

Sec. 4. The trustees of said corporation shall have authority, from time to time, to prescribe and regulate the kind and course of studies to be pursued in said seminary; 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, and 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 management of the affairs of the institution, and for the regulation of the conduct of the students.

Vacancies, how filled.

Quorum.

Sec. 5. The trustees for the time being, in order to have perpetual succession, shall have power to fill any vacancy which may occur in the board from death or removal out of the State, resignation, or other cause. A majority of the trustees for the time being shall be a quorum to do business.

Sec. 6. The trustees of said institution shall appoint a treasurer, who shall give bond, with such security, in such penalty, and with such conditions, as the board may prescribe.

Open to all.

Expulsion of students.

Sec. 7. The said institution shall be open to all denominations of christians, and the profession of any particular religious faith shall not be required of those who become students; all persons, however, may be expelled, or suspended from said institution, by the trustees thereof, whose habits are idle or vicious, or whose moral character is bad.

Proviso.

Sec. 8. The lands, tenements, and hereditaments to be held in perpetuity by the said corporation shall not exceed six hundred and forty acres: Provided, however, That, if any donations, grants, (or) devises in lands, shall from time to time be made to said corporation, over and above the 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 lands shall not have been sold by said corporation, then, and in that case, the said lands so donated, granted, or devised, shall revert to the donor, grantor, or the heirs of devisors of the same.

Com.[Common] school department

Proviso.

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

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school commissioner of the county the same amount of money, in the same proportion, and apply the same to such tuition in the same manner 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.

Approved, March 2, 1839.

1On February 18, 1839, Worthington J. Gibbs introduced SB 233 in the Senate. On February 28, following the insertion of an amendment by a select committee, the Senate passed the bill, and referred it to the House. On March 2, the House passed the bill without further amendment. That same day, theCouncil of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, of the State of Illinois (Vandalia, IL: William Waters, 1836), 564, 596; Journal of the Senate, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, of the State of Illinois (Vandalia, IL: William Waters, 1836), 345, 353, 392, 417, 459, 471, 507, 510, 512.