Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

1
Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That on the second Monday of December, in the year Eighteen hundred and forty two, the duration of the Office of the Secretary of State shall expire: at which time and every four years thereafter the Governor shall nominate and by and with the advice2 and consent of the Senate appoint a Secretary of State, who shall continue in office for the period of four years and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified as required by Law, Provided nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to render any Secretary of State ineligible to reappointment3

[ certification ]
01/31/1840
Bond, Benjamin

Passed the senate
Jany 31st 1840
Ben: Bond secy[secretary]
Senate

<Page 2>

[ docketing ]
Senate

[ docketing ]
84

[ docketing ]
A bill for an act to limit the duration of the office of Secretary of State

[ docketing ]
[01]/[11]/[1840]
ord[ordered] 2^d Redg[Reading]

[ docketing ]
39

[ docketing ]
[01]/[29]/[1840]
Engrossed

[ docketing ]
[01]/[31]/[1840]
passed

1On December 20, 1839, the Senate adopted a resolution instructing the Committee on the Judiciary to report a bill defining the tenure of the office of the secretary of state. In response to this resolution, Sidney H. Little of the Committee on the Judiciary introduced SB 85 in the Senate on January 11, 1840. On January 29, the Senate rejected a proposed amendment by a vote of 4 yeas to 35 yeas, ordering the bill engrossed for a third reading by a vote of 21 yeas to 18 nays. On January 31, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 20 yeas to 18 nays. On January 31, the House of Representatives ordered the bill to a second reading by a vote of 43 yeas to 36 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The House subsequently refused to read the bill a second time.
Illinois House Journal. 11th G. A., special sess., 309, 315; Illinois Senate Journal. 11th G. A., special sess., 38, 102-03, 180, 205, 221.

2“consent” changed to “advice”.

3The Illinois Constitution of 1818 stated that the secretary of state would be selected by the governor and Senate, but with no term limit. In 1829, Ninian Edwards gave Alexander P. Field, a Whig, a lifetime appointment in the position, but following Democrat Thomas Carlin’s 1838 election as governor, efforts began to replace Field with John A. McClernand. These efforts were both legal, such as the McClernand v. Robert Irwin & Co. trial, in which Abraham Lincoln defended Irwin and, by proxy, Field, and political, such as this bill. The bill failed because the Senate cited a recent Supreme Court case upholding Field’s appointment. In November 1840, Carlin tried again to remove Field through legislation and the Senate acquiesced. However, instead of appointing McClernand, Carlin awarded the position to Stephen A. Douglas, who had vigorously and publicly supported his efforts against Field.
John Clayton, Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 93; Robert P. Howard, Illinois: A History of the Prairie State (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman, 1972), 211; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973), 85-87; Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis, et al, eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2nd ed. (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=139788.