Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Dec.[December] 16, 1840.

An ACT to provide for paying the interest on the internal improvement debt.
1

Fund com’r[commissioner] to hypothecate bonds.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly,2 That the Fund Commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to hypothecate any amount of State internal improvement bonds which may be necessary, not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars, to raise a sufficient sum of money to pay the interest which will legally fall due on the internal improvement debt on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one.

Time of redemption.

Proviso.

Sec. 2. Said money so to be borrowed, shall bear an annual interest at a rate not to exceed seven per centum per annum. Said bonds, hereby hypothecated, shall be redeemable at any time before the year one thousand eight hundred

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and forty-three: Provided, That interest shall not run on the bonds hereby hypothecated, unless said bonds shall be forfeited by the State.Approved, December 16, 1840.3

1On December 15, 1840, Alfred W. Cavarly introduced HB 33 in the House of Representatives. Representatives offered amendments, which the House tabled. The House ordered the bill engrossed for a third reading by a vote of 51 yeas to 37 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The House passed the bill as introduced by a vote of 52 yeas to 36 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. On December 15, the Senate amended the first section of the bill and added a new third section. The Senate passed the bill as amended by a vote of 24 yeas to 14 nays. In the afternoon session, the Senate re-considered this vote, striking out the third section added in the morning in lieu of a new third section. The Senate struck out all after the enacting clause and replaced it with a substitute. The Senate passed the bill as substituted by a vote of 21 yeas to 17 nays. The House concurred with the Senate substitute by a vote of 52 yeas to 35 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. On December 16, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 117-19, 121; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 78-79, 79-80.

2On December 15, 1840, the Senate amended the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and replacing it with a substitute. The substitute text became the enrolled text and text for the act.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 79-80.

3Alfred W. Cavarly‘s original bill was largely the same as an amendment he had offered on December 12 to a interest bill sponsored by Stephen G. Hicks. The bill was also very similar to a bill the Senate had passed on December 11. During the debate on the Hicks bill on December 12, Abraham Lincoln spoke in support of Cavarly’s amendment as a stopgap measure to pay the January interest. In debate on Cavarly’s bill on December 15, representatives echoed these sentiments, though some voiced concern about the absence of additional tax revenue, arguing that the State should either raise property taxes or sell public lands and deposit the receipts into a permanent fund from which the State would make future interest payments. Others worried about the legality of the bonds and potential fraud in their sale.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 108; Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL), 25 December 1840, 2:3-4.