Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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

An ACT to provide for the payment of interest on the public debt.
1

Additional State revenue.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That hereafter in addition to the revenue now raised by taxation, there shall be levied and collected for State purposes, a tax at the rate of ten cents on each one hundred dollars worth of all property.

Interest fund.

Sec. 2. Said additional revenue so raised shall be set apart exclusively for the payment of interest on the State indebtedness, and shall be called the “interest fund.”

Valuation of lands.

Oath of assessor.

Sec. 3. That the minimum value of all lands for the purpose of taxation shall be three dollars per acre, and each as-

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sessor shall, in addition to the oath now required by law, be required to swear particularly that he will in no instance value any land at three dollars per acre, that he, in his conscience, believes to be worth more.

Gov. to issue bonds.

Sec. 4. The Governor shall from time to time issue such an amount of State bonds as may be absolutely necessary to raise funds for the payment of interest on the State debts, that there is no other means of paying, and also, sufficient to redeem all State bonds now hypothecated.

Bonds sold by Fund Com’r.[Commissioner]

Sec. 5. Said bonds shall be sold by the Fund Commissioner for the best price they will command, and the proceeds by him faithfully applied to the foregoing objects.

Bonds when payable.

Sec. 6. Said bonds shall be reimbursable after the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and bear interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum payable half yearly.

Interest.

Sec. 7. A sufficiency of the said fund is hereby irrevocably pledged for the payment of interest on the said bonds so sold, and the same shall be applied to that object in preference to all other objects.

Approved, February 27, 1841.

1Ebenezer Peck from the Committee on Finance, of which Abraham Lincoln was a members, introduced HB 3 in the House of Representatives on November 30, 1840. On December 1, the House referred the bill and proposed amendments to the Committee of the Whole and made it the order of the day for December 2. On December 4, the Committee of the Whole reported back the bill, reporting progress and requesting leave to continue consideration. The House declined, referring the bill and proposed amendments to the Committee on Finance. The Committee on Finance reported back the bill on December 5 with an amendment. Representatives offered amendment to the amendment, and the House tabled the bill and proposed amendments by a vote of 60 yeas to 26 nays, with Lincoln voting nay.
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), 38, 45, 51, 72, 73-74, 87, 89-90, 91-93, 97, 98-99, 511-12, 544, 549, 555; Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, At Their Second Session, Begun and Held in the City of the Springfield, December 7, 1840 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1840), 408, 408, 415, 417, 419, 420, 434.