Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb.[February] 27, 1841.

An ACT for the formation of the County of Allen.
1

Boundaries.

Sec. [Section]1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that tract of country lying within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the north-west corner of Macoupin county, running due south, six miles, to the south-west corner of section thirty-one, township twelve north, range nine west; thence due east, twenty miles to the south-east corner of section thirty-two, township twelve north, range six west; thence due north, six miles, to the south-east corner of section thirty-two, township thirteen north, range six west; thence due west, to the south-east corner of section thirty-six, township thirteen north, range seven west; thence due north on the range line, between ranges six and seven, to the middle of township fifteen north, on the range line between ranges six and seven; thence twelve miles due west, to the north-east corner of section twenty-four, township fifteen north, range nine west; thence due south five miles, to the north-east corner of section thirteen, township fourteen north, range nine west; thence due west, two miles; thence due south, one mile; thence west, one mile; thence south, three miles; thence west, three miles, to the north-west corner of section six, township thirteen north, range nine west; thence due south six miles, to the place of beginning, all west of the third principal meridian, shall form and constitute the county of Allen.2

Election for county officers

Term of office

Sec. 2. There shall be an election held at the different places of voting for justices of the peace and constables, in the limits of said county of Allen; the election shall be conducted by the present judges of election in said county, who have been appointed by the counties of Morgan, Macoupin, and Sangamon, according to the election laws of this State; at which election, the legal voters of the county of Allen shall elect all county officers for the county, who shall be qualified and commissioned as similar officers are in other counties of this State; said officers so selected and qualified, shall hold their offices until the next ensuing regular election for such officers, now provided by law, and shall have the same jurisdiction and discharge all the duties in the limits of the county of Allen, that are required by law of similar officers in other counties of this State, said election to be held on the first Monday in September next.

Election returns to whom made

Sec. 3. Within five days after said election, the judges of election, at the different places of voting, shall return the poll books of said election to the town of Waverly, directed to John T. Webb, F. R. Starr, and John Scott, three acting justices of the peace in the limits of said county; and the said justices shall meet in the town of Waverly, within seven days after said election, and proceed to open said election returns, and to do and perform all the duties in relation

<Page 2>
to said returns that are required by law of the clerks of county commissioners’ courts in relation to similar returns.

When considered organized

Judge of 1st circuit to appoint clk.[clerk] &c[etc.].

Sec. 4. As soon as the county officers shall have been elected and qualified, as provided for in this act, the county shall be considered organized, and the clerk of the county commissioners’ court shall give notice of the same to the judge of the first judicial circuit, who shall appoint a clerk of the circuit court, and shall hold courts in the said county at such place as may be provided and designated by the county commissioners of said county, until the county seat of said county shall be located as hereinafter provided for; said county of Allen shall form a part of the first judicial circuit until otherwise directed by law.

Suits heretofore commenced

Sec. 5. Suits and indictments that have been commenced, or may hereafter be commenced in the circuit courts of the counties of Sangamon, Morgan or Maccupin, by any of the citizens living in the limits of the county of Allen, before the organization thereof, shall not be effected by this act, but all such suits so commenced, shall be decided in the circuit court in the county where they were commenced.

Officers heretofore elected to hold office.

Sec. 6. All justices of the peace and constables elected in the counties of Sangamon, Morgan or Macoupin, who reside in the limits of Allen, shall hold their offices and have jurisdiction in the said county of Allen, as though they had been originally elected in the said county.

School fund of Allen Co.

Sec. 7. The school funds belonging to the several townships in the said county of Allen, and all notes and mortgages pertaining to the same, shall be paid and delivered over to the school commissioner of the county of Allen, by the school commissioners of the counties of Sangamon, Morgan and Macoupin, so soon as the said county shall be organized, and the commissioner of school lands appointed and qualified according to law, together with all interest arising out of said money that has not been heretofore expended for school purposes in those parts of the counties of Sangamon, Morgan and Macoupin, now included in the county of Allen.

Election for county seat

2d Election for county seat.

Returns of election when made

Sec. 8. At the time and places of voting for county officers, as provided for in this act, the judges of election shall cause three columns to be ruled on the poll books of said election; at the head of each of said columns, a separate place shall be entered as a candidate for the county seat of the said county of Allen, the places to be agreed upon by the voters of said county in any number they may see proper to decide upon that question previous to the vote being taken for said county seat; all the legal voters of the county of Allen shall be allowed to vote for one of the places designated on the poll books as a candidate for the county seat, and after the poll books shall have been opened and counted, as provided in the second section of this act, if it shall appear that either of the three points has received a majority of all the votes given for the location of the county seat, the place so re-

<Page 3>
ceiving a majority of votes, shall be and remain the permanent seat of justice for said county of Allen, upon the conditions hereinafter provided; but if, on the votes being counted, it shall appear that no one of the three places voted for shall not have received a majority of all the votes given, the three justices of the peace mentioned in this act, shall cause notice to be given to the judges of election at the different places of voting in the county of Allen, and designate in said notices a day upon which to hold a second election for the location of a seat of justice for said county; the judges of election on receiving said notice from the justices of the peace, shall proceed to give public notice of said election, by posting up written notices in four of the most public places in their respective districts, and the said judges of election shall attend on the day of election, and cause a poll to be opened with two columns ruled, at the head of which shall be entered the two places which shall have received the highest number of votes for the county seat at the first election, and receive and cause to be recorded all the legal votes of persons living within the limits of the county of Allen, for their respective choices for the permanent location of the county seat for said county; and within three days after said election, the judges of election shall return their poll books to the town of Waverly, directed to the three justices of the peace mentioned in this act, and the said justices shall meet in the town of Waverly within five days after said election, and open and count the votes, and the place having received a majority of all the votes given, shall be and remain the permanent seat of justice of Allen county, under the provisions set forth in the following section of this act; the provisions of said section shall apply to the location of the county seat whether located at the first or second election provided for in this act.3

Donation to county seat

Sec. 9. If the county seat shall be located on private property, the owner or owners thereof, shall convey to said county a sufficient sum, either in land or money, or both, to erect the necessary public buildings; and if the owner or owners of the property upon which said location shall be made, shall fail or refuse to convey to said county a sufficiency as aforesaid, then the county commissioners of said county shall proceed to relocate the county seat upon the nearest eligible site to said first location that can be obtained, and a proper donation made by the owner or owners of the property upon which said location shall be made by the county commissioners, and the county commissioners shall do and perform all acts that are necessary in laying out a town, and selling lots, and procuring the erection of public buildings at the county seat when the same shall have been located under the provisions of this act.

Vote for or against formation of county

Returns made to Secretary of State.

Notice by Secretary of State of formation of county.

Sec. 10. At the election to be held for members of Congress on the first Monday in August next, the judges of elec-

<Page 4>
tion in the counties of Sangamon, Morgan and Macoupin, shall rule two columns on their poll books, one for and the other against the formation of the county of Allen, and receive, and cause to be recorded, all the legal votes offered for or against the formation of said county, and return the same with the poll books, to the office of the Secretary of State. It is hereby made the duty of the Secretary of State, within ten days after the said returns are made to his office, to proceed to count the votes given, both for, and against the formation of the county of Allen, and if it shall appear that a majority of all the votes given in each of said counties4, for or against said county, are in favor of its formation, then the said Secretary shall cause notice thereof to be given in the paper of the public printer; and said county shall be organized as provided for in this act, otherwise this act shall be null and void.5

Approved, February 27, 1841.

1Milton Carpenter introduced HB 234 in the House of Representatives on February 13, 1841. The House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 22, recommending indefinite postponement, and the House informally tabled the bill. The House later took up the bill, rejecting indefinite postponement by a vote of 17 yeas to 48 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The House amended the tenth section by adding the words “in each of said counties” after the words “votes given.” The House ordered the bill engrossed by a vote of 39 yeas to 22 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. On February 24, the House passed the bill as amended by a vote of 46 yeas to 24 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. The Senate concurred on February 27, by a vote of 20 yeas to 14 nays. On February 27, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 393, 457, 461, 480, 488-89, 547, 555, 569; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 399, 409, 435.

2Between statehood in 1818 and 1867, the Illinois General Assembly authorized the creation of 104 Illinois counties. During Lincoln’s four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, the General Assembly authorized 38 counties. The General Assembly allowed voters in the affected county or counties to accept or reject the creation of the new county in only twelve of those cases. In four instances, including this one, a majority of voters rejected the creation of the new county. The Illinois Constitution of 1848 made such referenda mandatory in the creation of new counties.
Michael D. Sublett, Paper Counties: The Illinois Experience, 1825-1867 (New York: Peter Lang, 1990), 12-14, 22; Ill. Const. (1848), art. VII.

3For the 38 counties authorized by the General Assembly during Lincoln’s four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, the General Assembly appointed commissioners to designate the county seat in 23 instances, allowed the voters of the new county to select the county seat in 11 instances, and designated the county seat directly in the remaining 4 instances.
Sublett, Paper Counties, 14-18.

4On February 22, 1841, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding the words “in each of said counties.”
Journal of the House of Representatives, of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, At Their Second Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, December 7, 1840 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1840), 461.

5Voters in each of the three counties from which Allen County would be formed rejected the creation of the new county in a referendum on August 2, 1841. Voters in Macoupin County voted 258 for and 827 against, voters in Morgan County voted 550 for and 1,245 against, and voters in Sangamon County voted 316 for and 1,706 against. The combined total was 1,124 in favor of Allen County and 3,778 against its creation. Efforts to organize a county in this area of the state did not end in 1841. After an abortive attempt to form Benton County that would have included Waverly, Illinois, in 1843, citizens submitted petitions to each of the next four General Assemblies, requesting the creation of a county north of Carlinville, south of Jacksonville, and southwest of Springfield. Newton Cloud, a leading citizen of Waverly, was the speaker of the House of Representatives in the Fifteenth General Assembly, which passed a law creating Oregon County, subject to voter approval. Like Allen County, Oregon County would be drawn from portions of Sangamon, Morgan, and Macoupin Counties, and would have Waverly near its center. Once again, on November 2, 1852, voters in these three counties rejected the creation of Oregon County by a combined vote of 1,803 in favor and 5,903 against.
Sublett, Paper Counties, 52, 64-68, 97-104; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 13 August 1841, 2:1.