An act in relation to the payment of Auditors Warrants.
1Sec[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the collectors of the public revenue in the several counties of this state, shall on presentation of any auditors warrant or warrants issued since the first
day of December 1840 pay the same to the holder thereof, out of any money in their
hands, belonging to the state; and in the payment of said warrants the collectors shall have regard to the priority
of their presentation, first paying those first presented.
And if at any time any collector shall not have sufficient funds in his hands belonging
to the state to discharge all the warrants presented, he shall take up said warrants so far as
the funds of the state in his hands will enable him to do so: provided no partial payment shall be made
upon any warrant unless the collector has sufficient funds completely to discharge
the same,
| 22d line | but he shall note upon such warrant the |
| 23 | time of its presentation and shall pay |
| 24 | no other warrant until he shall have |
| 25 | received sufficient funds to discharge |
| 26 | the warrant or warrants so endorsed |
| 27 | by him, and in case the said warrant or |
| 28 | warrants so endorsed should not be |
| 29 | presented for payment after sufficient |
| 30 | funds to pay off the same have come into |
| 31 | the hands of the collector and before the |
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^And^ the time he is required by law to settle with the auditor, then said collector shall
pay into the state Treasury all the money that may be in his hands at the time of
such settlement.
Sec. 2. When any warrant or warrants shall be paid and taken up as aforesaid, it shall
be the duty of the collector receiving the same, to note the time of the reception
and payment of such warrant or warrants on the back of the name, and the interest
upon such warrant or warrants shall cease from said date.
Sec. 3. Any collector who shall refuse to pay over any moneys in his hands belonging
to the state, upon the presentation of any warrant or warrants according to the provisions of
this act, shall be considered an embezzler of the public moneys for which he may be
fined in any sum not less than one hundred Dollars, nor more than five hundred Dollars,
to be recovered ^by action of debt in the name of the People of the state of Illinois^ before any court having competent jurisdiction of the same, and for the second offence shall be indicted and upon conviction thereof be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for any term not less than one nor more than three years. this act to take effect
from and after its passage 2
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Bill for an Act in relation to the payment of Auditors warrants
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[01]/[16]/[1841]
[01]/[16]/[1841]
ordd Engd[ordered Engrossed]
1John Logan introduced HB 114 in the House of Representatives on January 16, 1841. The House refused to strike out the enacting clause by a vote
of 37 yeas to 50 nays, with Abraham Lincoln not voting. On January 28, the House refused to table a proposed amendment that
would have added provisions for school funding to the bill by a vote of 41 yeas to
50 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. The House adopted the proposed amendment by a vote
of 56 yeas to 34 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. The House subsequently rejected the
bill as amended by a vote of 43 yeas to 48 nays, with Lincoln voting nay.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 233-34, 243, 290-92.
2William J. Phelps, sponsor of a proposed amendment making provision for school funding, was scandalized
that the House of Representatives would pay itself, which he argued was the intention of the bill, when workers building
the new state house went unpaid, schools went unfunded, and the state was mired in
debt. The Illinois State Register reported Phelps as saying that it was “wrong for the servant to help himself before
his master.” As Phelps referenced, Illinois had a large state debt coming in the aftermath of the Panic of 1837.
Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL), 12 February 1841, 1:5.
Handwritten Document, 4 page(s), Folder 71, HB 114, GA Session 12-2,
Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,