Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Sect[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly. That the act entitled ^“an act^ to provide for the safe keeping, and security of the public money approved March 4^th 1837,” be and the same is hereby repealed.2 And, also that the act to regulate interest on Auditors Warrants, approved February 21^st 1839 be and the same is hereby repealed. 3

Sec[Section] 2. That from and after the passage of this act, the Auditor of Public accounts, shall not make any drafts upon said State Bank of Illinois or its Branches.

Sect 3. The Treasurer of State, shall receive, safely keep, and disburse upon the Warrant of the Auditor all monies coming to his hands as such Treasurer, according to the specified appropriation thereof.

Sec 4 That all collectors of the ordinary public revenue, and all others indebted to the State, shall hereafter pay the same into the Treasury of State *taking the Treasurers ^X^ receipt therefor.)

Sect 4. That the Treasurer of State, is hereby directed and required, not to pay out any money, to the State Bank of Illinois or branch, until a final settlement between said Bank and the State of Illinois shall have been made, which shall not take place until ten

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days after the close of the present General Assembly, Then the same shall be made by the auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, and the said settlement shall be signed officially by the said Officers on the part of the State. and such agent on the part of the Bank as she may appoint, and one copy thereof to be delivered to the Bank, and another deposited in the office of Auditor of State, Provided however, that such settlement hereby authorized, shall not embrace any claim for Bonus due, or to become due from the State Bank of Illinois, nor shall it extend to, or embrace any other transaction between the said Bank and State, than what shall be understood to grow out of the acts hereby repealed.

Sec 5. After the settlement provided for in the foregoing section, the auditor shall (draw his warrant, upon the Treasurer of) State) in favor of said Bank for such amount as shall be found due her, (as in other cases) bearing interest, at the rate of six per cent per annum.4

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01/05/1841
Covell, Merritt L.

Passed the Senate Jany 5. 1841
M L Covell secty[secretary]

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No 62

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Senate
A bill for “An act to provide for the safe keeping and disbursement of the Public revenue [~~...~~?]

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[02]/[11]/[1841]
Banks & Cor.

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[02]/[23]/[1841]
laid on table
Feby [February]23^d

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[01]/[15]/[1841]
Judiciary

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[01]/[04]/[1841]
Engrossed.

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[01]/[25]/[1841]
ord.3

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12

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[01]/[15]/[1841]
Read 2

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20

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10

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11

1William J. Gatewood from the Committee on Finance, to which the Senate had referred a resolution regarding the deposit of public money in the State Bank of Illinois, introduced SB 67 in the Senate on December 23, 1840. On December 28, the Senate referred the bill and proposed amendments to the Committee on Finance. The Committee on Finance reported back the bill on January 4, 1841, with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended on January 5. On January 15, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on January 23 with amendments, in which the House concurred. On February 11, the House refused to table the bill by a vote of 41 yeas to 44 yeas, with Abraham Lincoln voting nay. The House refused to vote on the bill as amended by a vote of 42 yeas to 43 nays, with Lincoln voting yea. After a lengthy debate in which Lincoln participated, the House referred the bill to the Committee on Banks and Other Corporations by a vote of 49 yeas to 36 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. The Committee on Banks and Other Corporations reported back the bill on February 23, recommending its passage. The House tabled the bill by a vote of 38 yeas to 35 nays, with Lincoln voting nay.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 187, 194, 230, 267, 277, 371, 373, 373-75, 471; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 110, 119-20, 133, 137, 138; Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL), 19 February 1841, 2:5; Sangamo Journal, (Springfield, IL), 16 February 1841, 2:6.

2The 1837 act authorized the auditor of public accounts to contract with the State Bank of Illinois to receive on deposit and disperse state revenue.

3The 1839 act stipulated that if the state owed the State Bank of Illinois more than $10,000, the auditor of public accounts was to issue, upon the return of warrants by the bank, certificates in favor of the bank for payment of the balance due. These certificates were to bear six percent interest annually from the time of issuance to payment.

4Many Democrats and some Whigs in the Illinois General Assembly were suspicious of the State Bank in particular and banks in general due to the perceived role of financial institutions in the Panic of 1837 and subsequent state debt crisis. As the Senate was deliberating SB 67, the House of Representatives was considering HB 67, which was similar in content. Anti-bank rhetoric marked debate on the floors of both the House and Senate. Some of these same issues were evident in the conflict over the Second Bank of the United States.
Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL), 15 January 1841, 2:1-2; Robert P. Howard, Illinois: A History of the Prairie State (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1972, 202-208; Charles H. Garnett, “ State Banks of Issue in Illinois,” (MA Thesis, University of Illinois, 1898), 35-37.