Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb.[February] 19, 1841.

An ACT to extend the limits of Bond County.
1

Townships added to Bond county

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that tract of country included within the following boundaries, namely: commencing at the north-west corner of township six north, range four west, of the third principal meridian; thence west, three miles on the township line, between six and seven north, to the north-west corner of section three, township six north, range five west; thence south, on that sectional line, to the south-west corner of section thirty-four, township four north, range five west; thence east to the southwest corner of Bond county, be attached to, and form a part of the county of Bond.2

To be decided by vote of inhabitants of townships

Judges of election how appointed

Returns of election

Sec. 2. That there shall be an election held at the House of John Charter, in said boundaries, on the first Monday of April next, and if a majority of the votes given by the legal voters in said boundaries, shall be given in favor of being attached to Bond county, then and in that case it shall be so attached, otherwise it shall remain a part of Madison county; the election shall be conducted by three judges to be appointed by the voters of the boundaries on the day of said election; the judges when chosen by vote shall be qualified by some person authorized to administer oaths, and when so qualified, shall conduct the election according to the election laws of this State; said judges shall make separate returns to the clerks of the county commissioners’ courts of the counties of Madison and Bond.3

Approved, February 19, 1841.

1Richard Bentley introduced HB 87 to the House of Representatives on January 7, 1841, and the House referred it to the Committee on Counties. The committee reported back on January 14 and recommended several amendments, to which the House concurred. The House rejected a motion to “indefinitely postpone” consideration of the bill on January 25 by a vote of 41 yeas and 33 nays, Abraham Lincoln voting nay, and the House passed the bill. The Senate referred it to the Committee on Counties on February 4. The committee reported back on February 8 and recommended an amendment, to which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill on February 10. The House passed the amended bill on February 13. The Council of Revision approved the bill on February 19 and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 199, 223, 233, 239, 266, 278, 370, 390, 438, 442, 443; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 207, 241, 253-254, 286, 319.

2The land described here composed a narrow strip along the entire western border of Bond county.

3Joseph Gillespie opposed the reduction of Madison County, decrying the “continued spirit of cutting away slice after slice from counties,” a spirit that witnessed the General Assembly carve out twenty-eight new counties between February 27, 1837, and February 27, 1841. If this trend continued, the Illinois State Register recorded Gillespie as saying, “we should soon have all our counties reduced to a size no larger than a good sized potato-patch.” Voters of Madison and Bond Counties seemingly approved of Gillespie’s sentiments and did not approve this measure. In 1843, the General Assembly passed another law that extended Bond into Madison County, although the addition comprised less land than this 1841 act proposed to add.
Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL), 5 February 1841, 1:6; “An Act to Extend the Limits of Bond County,” 2 March 1843, Laws of the State of Illinois (1843), 98-99; William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882), 30.