In force, Feb.[February] 1, 1840.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the name of the county of Dane shall hereafter be Christian.2
Approved, Feb. 1, 1840.
1Thomas J. Nance presented a petition from the citizens of Dane County to the House of Representatives on January 22, 1840, and the House referred it to a select committee, which included
Abraham Lincoln. The committee reported back on January 24 and Nance introduced this bill, which
Lincoln moved to bring to a vote and it passed the House. The Senate passed it on January 30. The Council of Revision approved the bill on February 1 and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1840), 227, ; Journal of the Senate (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1840), .
2In his initial petition calling for the creation of Dane County, Whig politician William S. Frink suggested naming it after primary author of the Northwest Ordinance, Nathan Dane. Dane, however, had a reputation as a Federalist and the county’s Democrat majority objected to honoring him and wrote a counter petition. They selected the
name Christian because many of them originally hailed from Christian County, Kentucky.
J. C. McBride, Past and Present of Christian County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1904), 33-34; Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, and Henry L. Fawkes,
eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Christian County (Chicago: Munsell, 1918), 2:654.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly, at their Special Session (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1840), 80, GA Session: 11-S