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Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly That the County Commissioners Court of Pope County, be and they are hereby authorised and required to pay off all debts of said County contracted on account of the improvements of roads, building bridges, and other public
works out of the money received from the State under the Internal Improvement law,2 whether the same was contracted for before or after the passage of said law Provided however that nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to effect the portion
of said fund coming to Hardin County, under the provisions of the act to amend an act establishing the County of Hardin passed at the present session of the General Assembly3
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35
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[01]/[09]/[1840]
[01]/[09]/[1840]
read 1 & 2 &
refd to sel. com.
refd to sel. com.
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[01]/[15]/[1840]
[01]/[15]/[1840]
refused. to read bill 3d time
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[01]/[06]/[1840]
[01]/[06]/[1840]
Engrossed
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[01]/[07]/[1840]
[01]/[07]/[1840]
passed
1Worthington J. Gibbs introduced SB 58 in the Senate on January 2, 1840. On January 3, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee
on Finance. The Committee on Finance reported back the bill on January 6 with an
amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended on
January 7. On January 9, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the
bill on January 15, recommending its rejection, whereupon the House refused to read
the bill a third time.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 139, 148, 180; Illinois Senate Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 77, 82, 87, 92, 114.
2Section eighteen, sub-section fifteen, of the internal improvement act appropriated $200,000 to counties through which no railroad or canal was provided
at the expense of the State. This money was to be distributed proportionally based on the most recent census.
The money was to be used to improve roads, build bridges, and construct other necessary
public works. By December 1838, the fund commissioners had distributed $145,510 to
sixteen counties. There appears to be some discrepancy on the amount distributed.
Krenkel and the Sangamo Journal cite the total as $144,700, but a tabulation of the figures printed in the Sangamo
Journal results in $145,510. Pope County had received $9387.50.
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 83-84; Sangamo Journal 12 January 1839, 2:1.
3Sections three and seven of the act dealt with money due Hardin County under terms of the internal improvement act.
4These legislators formed a select committee in the House of Representatives that considered the bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 148.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Folder 254, SB 58, GA Session 11-S, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,