Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

A Bill for an act to modify an act entitled “an act to establish and maintain a general system of Internal Improvements” approved 27^th Feby[February] 1837”
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section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly That so much of an act entitled “an act to establish and maintain a general system of Internal Improvements” approved 27^th Feby 1837, as establishes creates a board of public works be and the same is hereby repealed,2 and that there shall be created in lieu thereof a Board of Internal Improvement to consist of three members to be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent ^of the senate^ who shall have the same powers and qualifications, shall give the same sureties, and perform the same duties as is required by the said act to establish and maintain a general system of Internal Improvements, and such other duties as this act shall prescribe.

section 2. That so much of the said act as establishes a general system of Internal Improvements, as creates a Board of Fund Commissioners be and the same is hereby repealed, and that the Governor of the State shall have the same powers and perform the same3 duties as are now required of the said Fund Commissioners.4

section 3. The said Board of Internal Improvement ^created^

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created by this act, shall as soon as the members thereof shall be qualified to act, select from among the several rail roads provided to be directed to be constructed by the said act to establish and maintain a general system of Internal ^9^ Improvements, one of said rail roads,5 which shall be prosecuted to completion by the said Board of Internal Improvements to the exclusion of all others. And such Board shall be authorized to transfer all contracts made, for work to be done upon any other rail roads, to the rail road which shall be selected by such Board of Internal Improvement6

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A Bill for an act to modify [“]an act to establish and maintain a general system of Internal Improvements” approved 27^th Feby 1837.

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[01]/[29]/[1840]
2

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[01]/[29]/[1840]
refused 3^rd

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9

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1Joseph Naper introduced HB 153 in the House of Representatives on January 18, 1840. On January 29 the House, on the motion of Abraham Lincoln, struck the words “one of said roads” in the third section by a vote of 46 yeas to 36 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. The House refused to replace the stricken language with an amendment regarding the Central Railroad by a vote of 29 yeas to 53 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. The House refused to engross the bill for a third reading.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 203-204, 282-84.

2Section four of the internal improvement act created a seven-person board of public works to promote, maintain, supervise, and direct the system of internal improvements. Sections four through eighteen delineated the main duties of the board, with other duties sprinkled through an additional twenty-three sections.

3“same written over “said”.

4Section 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. Sections two, three, twenty-one, twenty-three, and twenty-four delineated the duties of the fund commissioners.

5On January 29, 1840, the House of Representatives struck out the words “one of the said railroads,” and considered, but rejected, substitute language related to the Central Railroad.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 282-83.

6Earlier in the same session, the House of Representatives had considered and rejected a bill abolishing the boards of fund commissioners and public works and creating a board of internal improvement. Such legislation came out of growing disenchantment with the internal improvement system.