In force Feb.[February] 27, 1841.
An ACT to amend “An act to incorporate the city of Springfield,” approved, February 3, 1840.
1Part of third section of act repealed.
Qualifications of electors.
Sec. [Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That so much of the third section of article second, and section second of article
third, of the act to which this is an amendment, as requires the mayor and aldermen of said city to be citizens of the United States, be and the same is hereby repealed; and hereafter every inhabitant of said city who is entitled to vote for State officers, and who has the requisite length of residence
according to the act to which this is an amendment, shall be eligible to the office of mayor or aldermen
of said city2.
Part of second sec. repealed.
Qualifications for voters.
Sec. 2. That so much of section second of article fourth of the act to which this is an amendment, as requires persons to be citizens of the United States
to be entitled to vote for city officers, be and the same is hereby repealed, and hereafter every inhabitant of said city who is entitled to vote for
<Page 2>
State officers, and who has the other requisite qualifications mentioned in said section shall be
entitled to vote for city officers. Approved, February, 27, 1841.
1Archer G. Herndon introduced SB 116 in the Senate on January 15, 1841. On January 19, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee
on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on January
21, recommending its passage. The Senate tabled the bill by a vote of 18 yeas to
15 nays. On February 8, the Senate took up the bill, ordering it engrossed for a third
reading by a vote of 30 yeas to 4 nays. The Senate passed the bill on February 10.
On February 17, Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives proposed an amendment to the first section, which the House adopted. The House passed the bill as amended.
The Senate concurred with the Lincoln amendment on February 27. On February 27, the
Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 369, 390, 409, 421-22, 560; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 168, 179, 186-87, 273, 286, 335, 442, 451, 453.
2On February 17, 1841, the House of Representatives, on motion of Abraham Lincoln, adopted an amendment adding the clause beginning after the word “repealed.”
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 421.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841), 61-62, GA Session 12-2,