Scope and Contents:
This collection contains some thirty-odd bills, most of which are drafts of legislation between 1814 and 1816. These documents, which are scarcely legible, reflect legal and civil issues of the period. They concern the formation of counties, the jurisdiction of circuit courts and justices of the peace, the appointment of county attorneys, and similar governmental concerns. Among the issues dealt with are dueling, divorces, and executions; taxes on horses; the ferry at Shawneetown, and acts for the relief of particular individuals.
The collection also includes typescripts of acts "concerning servants" (1807-1808); "concerning ... negroes and mulattoes" (1807-1813); a bill "authorizing a survey of roads" (1814); a "proposed memorial to Congress" (1814); and acts regarding elections (1813), slavery (1817), and the incorporation of the city and bank of Cairo (1817-1818).
Solon J. Buck probably collected the original documents in the course of preparing Illinois in 1818 (1917), and the typescripts may also reflect his research.