1Department of State,
Vandalia, December 2, 1834.To the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Your ob’t. serv’t.[Obedient Servant]A. P. FIELD,
Secretary of State.
Vandalia, December 2, 1834.To the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
I beg leave to inform you as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, that His Excellency John Reynolds, resigned the office of Governor on the 17th day of November 1834, since which time,
the duties of the Executive Department of the State of Illinois, has devolved upon and been exercised by Wm. Lee D. Ewing, Speaker of the Senate.2
I have the honor to be,Your ob’t. serv’t.[Obedient Servant]A. P. FIELD,
Secretary of State.
1On December 2, 1834, the House of Representatives received this communication from Alexander P. Field, and laid it on the table.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 7-8.
2In 1834, John Reynolds and Zadok Casey won election to Congress and resigned their positions as Illinois’ Governor and Lt. Governor, respectively.
As Speaker of the Illinois Senate, Ewing was next in the line of succession. He served as Governor for fifteen days until
newly-elected Governor Joseph Duncan arrived in Illinois and was inaugurated, whereupon Ewing resumed his seat in the Senate.
Robert P. Howard, Mostly Good and Competent Men: Illinois Governors, 1818-1988 (Springfield, IL: Sangamon State University, 1988), 57-58.
Printed Transcription, 1 page(s), Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their First Session (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 8