Amendment to “A Bill for the Payment of Interest on the Public Debt,” [8 December
1840]
1Mr. Lincoln, proposed to amend the bill by inserting into the 9th line, at the end of the word
“next” the words following, to wit:
“And also, sufficient to pay freights, duty and other necessary charges upon railroad
iron, which has been received, and to be received under contracts heretofore made,
and also sufficient to pay the necessary charges of the prosecution of certain suits
prosecuting and to be prosecuted
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on behalf of this State, in the State of New York. And if it shall become necessary to prevent a forfeiture of the bonds so hypothecated,
said Fund Commissioner is hereby empowered to re-hypothecate said bonds for that purpose,
and for no other whatever.”21On December 8, 1840, Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives proposed this amendment to a bill. In the morning session on December 10, the House apparently adopted this amendment
by a vote of 43 yeas to 42 nays, with Lincoln voting yea, but in the afternoon session,
Speaker of the House William L. D. Ewing reported that the Journal had incorrectly recorded the vote, and the actual tally
was 45 yeas to 42 nays. Legislators did not include any of the language of this amendment
in the bill that passed the General Assembly and the act that became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 89-90, 98-99, 100.
2The House Journal indicated that the House passed this amendment, but the Illinois State Register and Sangamo Journal reported otherwise. The State Register reported the amendment failed by a vote
of 44 yeas to 44 nays, and the Sangamo Journal recorded that it failed by a vote of
40 yeas to 44 nays.
Illinois State Register (Springfield), 18 December 1840, 2:1; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 December 1840, 2:7.
Printed Transcription, 2 page(s), Journal of the House of Representatives, of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, At Their Second Session (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1840), 89-90.