Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb[February] 26, 1841.

An ACT to amend "An act to authorize Henry W. Cleaveland to build a bridge across the Winnebago Swamp," Approved February 19, 1839.
1

Time allowed

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Henry W. Cleveland and his associates, and assigns, be allowed till the first day of December, A.D., one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, for the completion of the bridge and causeway across the Winnebago Swamp.2

Approved, February 26, 1841.

1George W. Harrison introduced SB 26 in the Senate on December 28, 1840. The Senate passed the bill on January 2, 1841. On January 21, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 3 with amendments, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended on February 11. The Senate concurred with the House amendments on February 25. On February 26, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 180, 258-59, 318-19, 371, 523; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 118, 125, 129, 297, 409, 412-13, 415.

2In 1839, the legislature passed an act authorizing Cleaveland to build the bridge across the Winnebago Swamp, a low-lying area in the southwest corner of Lee County. That act designated that the bridge was to be finished by February 19, 1840. The bridge was not finished in time, and Cleaveland most likely petitioned the legislature to extend the deadline. By 1843, the bridge still had not been built, and the legislature passed a supplementary act that stated Mr. Cleaveland was not compelled to use timber and/or stone for the entirety of the bridge, only where it was absolutely necessary. The road was completed sometime after that.
; A Bill to Amend "An Act to Authorize Henry W. Cleveland to Build a Bridge across the Winnebago Swamp," Approved February 19, 1839; “An Act Supplementary to ‘An Act Authorizing Henry W. Cleaveland to Build a Bridge across the Winnebago Swamp,” 3 February 1843, Laws of the State of Illinois (1843), 44-45; Frank E. Stevens, History of Lee County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1914), 1:21, 46-47.