Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb. [February] 26, 1841.

An ACT concerning the taxes of Greene and Jersey counties.
1

Counties of Green and Jersey to pay to State treasury

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of Greene and Jersey counties, and they are hereby required to pay over to the Treasurer of the State of Illinois the sum of three thousand dollars, which sum when paid over, shall be in full for the taxes due the State from said counties for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine.2

Payments how made

Sec. 2. The above sum shall be paid in the following manner, to-wit: The county of Greene shall pay two thousand and eight dollars, and the county of Jersey shall pay eight (nine) hundred and ninety-two dollars, by the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two.3

May be paid out of internal improvement fund

Sec. 3. The county commissioners of Greene and Jersey counties are hereby authorized to pay the above sums out of the internal improvement fund4 which was donated to said counties by an act entitled “An act to establish and maintain a general system of internal improvement,” any law to the contrary notwithstanding.5

Approved, February 26, 1841.

1Ebenezer Peck from the Committee on Finance, of which Abraham Lincoln was also a member, introduced HB 130 in the House of Representatives on January 23, 1841. The House passed the bill on February 10. On February 18, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on February 24 with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended. The House concurred in the Senate amendment on February 24. On February 26, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 267, 280, 362, 492, 494, 522, 529, 531; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 291, 342, 387, 399.

2Section eight of the act creating Jersey County out of Greene County included provisions for tax collection for the year 1839.

3On February 24, 1841, the Senate adopted an amendment adding this section.

4Section twenty of the internal improvement act created a fund to finance construction of the public works envisioned in the act.

5Section eighteen, sub-section fifteen, of the internal improvement act appropriated $200,000 to counties through which no railroad or canal was provided at the expense of the State. This money was to be distributed proportionally based on the most recent census. The money was to be used to improve roads, build bridges, and construct other necessary public works. By December 1838, the fund commissioners had distributed $145,510 to sixteen counties. There appears to be some discrepancy on the amount distributed. Krenkel and the Sangamo Journal cite the total as $144,700, but a tabulation of the figures printed in the Sangamo Journal results in $145,510. Greene County had received $30,205. Section four of the act creating Jersey County out of Greene County authorized Greene County to pay over to Jersey County a portion of funds received by the former out of the $200,000 appropriated under the terms of the internal improvement act. The amount to be paid over was to be in proportion to the population in that part of Greene county created into the county of Jersey, based on the census of 1840. By December 1839, Greene County had paid $6,000 to Jersey County,
John H. Krenkel, Illinois Internal Improvements 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch, 1958), 83-84; Sangamo Journal 12 January 1839, 2:1; History of Greene and Jersey Counties, (Springfield: Continental Historical, 1885), 86.