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Sec[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That an election shall be held on the first Monday in August next, and on the first
^Monday^ in August every two years thereafter in each County of this State for the purpose of electing a School Commissioner, said Commissioners when elected
shall continue in office for the term of two Years and until their successors are
elected and qualified, and previous to entering upon the duties of their respective
offices shall enter into bonds with securities which shall be approved by the County Commissioners Court, and filed in the Office of the Clerk of the County Commissioners Court^;^
Sec. 2. The election provided for by this act shall be held in the same places and conducted
in all respects as is now provided for in the law regulating elections; and in cases
of vacancy by death[,] resignation[,] or otherwise, such vacancies shall be fil^l^ed in the manner provided for fil^l^ing vacancies by a law regulating elections in the election of County Commissioners,2 and all contested elections in the aforenamed offices shall be settled in the same
manner as Contested elections of Sheriff^s^ and Coroners.
Sec 3. Every School Commissioner who s[h] all neglect or refuse to deliver over to his successor in office all papers, Books,
and monies in his possession, as well as all and every thing pertaining
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to his office shall forfeit and pay any sum of money not exceeding the amount of his
bonds, which penalty when recovered shall be added to [a]nd form a part of the School fund of the County.
Sec. 4. All laws and parts of laws coming in conflict with the provisions of this act
shall be repealed from and after the time when the School Commissioner elected by
the people as herein provided for shall be duly qualified to enter upon the discharge
of the duties of their office.3
Sec. 5. School Commissioners when elected and qualified according to the provisions of
this Act shall receive a certificate of election from the Clerk of the County Commissioners Court of their respective Counties.4
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[12]/[21]/[1840]
[12]/[21]/[1840]
ord.[ordered] 3.
as amended
& passed
Dec[December] 21st
as amended
& passed
Dec[December] 21st
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[12]/[02]/[1840]
[12]/[02]/[1840]
Engrossed
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[11]/[30]/[1840]
[11]/[30]/[1840]
ord 2
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[12]/[11]/[1840]
[12]/[11]/[1840]
ref to Com on Edn
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ord[ordered]
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passed
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3
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11
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1John Moore introduced SB 13 in the Senate on November 30, 1840. The Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Elections.
The Committee on Elections reported back the bill on December 2, recommending its
passage. The Senate passed the bill on December 9. On December 11, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on Education. The Committee on Education reported
back the bill on December 19 with amendments, in which the House concurred. The House
rejected an additional amendment by a vote of 29 yeas to 54 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. The House passed the bill as amended on December 21. The Senate concurred
in the House amendments on December 30. On January 9, 1841, the Council of Revision vetoed the bill and returned it to the Senate with its objections. On January 12,
the Senate referred the bill and the Council’s objections to the Committee on School
Lands and Education. The Committee on School Lands and Education did not report back
the bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 95, 101, 106, 135, 142, 168; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 28, 36, 61, 104, 126, 129, 149, 159.
3The Council of Revision returned the bill to the Senate because it believed that section four could raise doubts as to which laws were in
conflict with the bill. To obviate its concerns, the Council of Revision proposed
a substitute for this section. The Council’s substitute would have all part of laws
authorizing county commissioners’ courts to appoint commissioners to cease to operate
as soon as voters elected school commissioners in the various counties of the state.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 149.
4The Council of Revision objected that the proposed legislation did not specify that the duties, powers, and
liabilities falling on appointed commissioners as provided for in previous laws would
be transferred to binding on elected commissioners. The Council recommended that
the legislation include provision that school commissioners to be elected under provisions
of the act should perform all the duties, possess all the powers, and be subject to
all the liabilities conferred upon and imposed on commissioners appointed by county
commissioners courts in section two of a law passed January 22, 1829, and subsequent
acts amendatory thereto.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 149; “An Act Authorizing the Sale of Sections Numbered Sixteen,
or Such Land as May be Granted, in Lieu Thereof, to the Inhabitants of Such Townships,
for the Use of Schools,” 22 January 1829, The Revised Code of Law, of Illinois (1829), 150-54.
Handwritten Document, 4 page(s), Folder 225, SB 13, GA Session: 12-2,
Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,