Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb.[February] 19, 1841.

An ACT to locate a State Road from Shelbyville to Mint Point in Coles county.
1

Com’rs [Commissioners] to locate road.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Charles Kellum, John Houchins and John Young, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, and mark, and locate a State road2 from Shelbyville, in Shelby county, on the nearest, and best route to Houchins’ mills on the Little Wabash river, thence to intersect the State road leading from Charleston, in Coles county, to Lawrenceville, near the head of Mint Point, on the waters of the Embarrass river.

Time & place of meeting.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall meet at Shelbyville, in Shelby county, on the first Monday in April next, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and after being duly sworn by some justice of the peace, faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to view, locate and mark said road between the points above designated, on the nearest and best ground, by marking trees in the timber and putting up stakes in the prairie, having due regard to the public good, and doing as little damage to private property as the nature of the case will permit.

Maps and reports to be filed.

Pay of com’rs

Sec. 3. The said commissioners as soon as practicable after the location as aforesaid, shall make out maps and reports thereof, giving the correct distance and description of the same, and shall file the same or a copy thereof in the clerks' offices of the county commissioners’ court of each county through which any part of said road may pass; which said reports shall be made matters of record in said office. And the county commissioners’ courts of the counties through which said road passes shall allow said commissioners and their assistants a reasonble compensation for their services, in proportion to the length of said road in the counties through which the same shall pass; and they shall also cause said road to be opened and kept in repair as other State roads are.Approved, February 19, 1841.

1 On January 11, 1841, Byrd Monroe in the Senate presented a petition from the citizens of Shelby, Coles, and Effingham counties, requesting the location of a state road between their respective counties. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on Public Roads. The next day, Nelson W. Nunnally from the aforesaid committee introduced SB 102. The Senate passed the bill on January 15. The House of Representatives passed the bill on February 17. The Council of Revision approved the bill on February 19 and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 235, 251-52, 381, 402, 422; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 150, 155, 163, 168, 335, 351, 355-56.

2State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.