Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly, That there is hereby allowed to Henry W Cleveland his associates and assigns, one year in addition to the time allowed by the act to which this is an amendment for completing the bridge and causway across the Winebago swamp

Sec 2^nd The said Cleveland and his associates are hereby authorised to take from either side of said causway such materials as may be needed in the construction of said causway and Bridge, and to use such portion of timbers in the construction of the same as they may think best calculated to make a durable road2 3

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12/27/1839
Bond, Benjamin

Passed the Senate Decr 27^th 1839
Ben: Bond secy[secretary]
Senate

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Senate N^o 7

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A Bill For an act to amend “an act to authorise Henry W Cleveland to build a toll Bridge across the Winebago swamp approved Feb[February] 19^th 1839

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24

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[01]/[02]/[1840]
read 1^st2 & ord to 3^rd reading.

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01/10/[1840]
passed
Jan[January] 10^th

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[12]/[23]/[1839]
Engrossed

1John Hamlin introduced SB 26 in the Senate on December 21, 1839. The Senate passed the bill on December 27. The House of Representatives concurred on January 10, 1840. . On January 18, the Council of Revision vetoed the bill and returned it to the Senate with its objections, arguing that the second section violated the Illinois Constitution. On January 29, the Senate addressed the objections of the Council by striking out the second section. The Senate re-passed the bill as amended, but the House took no action on the amended bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 95, 118, 147, 287; Illinois Senate Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 43, 50, 61, 101, 104, 134, 200.

2On January 18, 1840, the Council of Revision vetoed the bill and returned it with the objection that this section violated the Illinois Constitution. The Senate struck out this section to address this objection.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 134, 200.

3In 1839, the legislature passed an act authorizing Cleaveland to build a bridge across the Winnebago Swamp, a low-lying area in the southwest corner of Lee County. That act designated that the bridge was to be finished by February 19, 1840. The bridge was not finished in time, and Cleaveland most likely petitioned the legislature to extend the deadline, which they did in 1841. By 1843, the bridge still had not been built, and the legislature passed a supplementary act that stated Mr. Cleaveland was not compelled to use timber and/or stone for the entirety of the bridge, only where it was absolutely necessary. The road was completed sometime after that.
; A Bill to Amend "An Act to Authorize Henry W. Cleveland to Build a Bridge across the Winnebago Swamp," Approved February 19, 1839; “An Act Supplementary to ‘An Act Authorizing Henry W. Cleaveland to Build a Bridge across the Winnebago Swamp,” 3 February 1843, Laws of the State of Illinois (1843), 44-45; Frank E. Stevens, History of Lee County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1914), 1:21, 46-47.