Chapter XXV: Section 1: Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois,

represented in the General Assembly, that all that district of
country embraced within the following boundaries, to wit: beginning
at the north east corner of section thirty-one in Township seven,
north of range eight, west of the fourth principal meridian, in the
county of Hancock, and running thence west to the northwest corner
of said section, thence north to the Mississippi river, thence west
to the middle of the main channel of the said river; thence down
the middle of said channel to a point due west of the southeast
corner of fractional section number twelve in township six, north
of range nine, west of the fourth principal meridian, thence east
to the southeast corner of said section twelve, thence north on the
range line between township six north, and range eight and nine
west, to the southwest corner of section six in township six north
of range eight west, thence east to the southeast corner of {240}
said section, thence north to the place of beginning, including
the town plats of Commerce and Nauvoo, shall hereafter be called
and known by the name of the "City of Nauvoo," and the inhabitants
thereof are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic by the
name aforesaid, and shall have perpetual succession, and may have
and use a common seal which they may change and alter at pleasure.

Sec. 2. Whenever any tract of land adjoining the "City of Nauvoo"
shall have been laid out into town lots, and duly recorded
according to law, the same shall form a part of the "City of
Nauvoo."

Sec. 3. The inhabitants of said city, by the name and style
aforesaid, shall have power to sue and be sued, to plead and be
impleaded, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity,
and all actions whatsoever; to purchase, receive and hold property,
real and personal, in said city, to purchase, receive, and hold
real property beyond the city, for burying grounds, or for other
public purposes, for the use of the inhabitants of said city, to
sell, lease, convey or dispose of property, real or personal, for
the benefit of the city, to improve and protect such property, and
to do all other things in relation thereto as natural persons.

Sec. 4. There shall be a City Council, to consist of a Mayor, four
Aldermen, and nine Councilors, who shall have the qualifications
of electors of said city, and shall be chosen by the qualified
voters thereof, and shall hold their offices for two years, and
until their successors shall be elected and qualified. The City
Council shall judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of
their own members, and a majority of them shall form a quorum to
do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and
compel the attendance of absent members, under such penalties as
may be prescribed by ordinance.

Sec. 5. The Mayor, Aldermen and Councilors, before entering upon
the duties of their office, shall take and subscribe an oath or
affirmation that they will support the Constitution of the United
States, and of this State and that they will well and truly
perform the duties of their offices to the best of their skill and
abilities.

Sec. 6. On the first Monday of February next, and every two years
thereafter, an election shall be held for the election of one
Mayor, four Aldermen, and nine Councillors; and at the first
election under the Act, three Judges shall be chosen _viva voce_
by the electors present. The said Judges shall choose two Clerks,
and the Judges and Clerks, before entering upon their duties,
shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation such as is now
required by law to be taken by Judges or Clerks of other elections
and at all subsequent elections, the necessary number of Judges
and Clerks shall be appointed by the City Council. At the first
election thus held, the polls shall be opened at 9 o'clock a. m.
and closed at 6 o'clock p. m.; at the close of the polls the votes
shall be counted {241} and a statement thereof proclaimed at the
front door of the house at which said election shall be held; and
the Clerks shall leave with each person elected, or at his place of
residence, within five days after the election, a written notice
of his election; and each person so notified shall within ten
days after the election take the oath or affirmation hereinbefore
mentioned, a certificate of which oath shall be deposited with the
Recorder, whose appointment is hereafter provided for, and be by
him preserved; and subsequent elections shall be held, conducted
and returns thereof made as may be provided for by ordinance of the
City Council.

Sec. 7. All free white male inhabitants, who are of the age of
twenty one years, who are entitled to vote for State Officers,
and who shall have been actual residents of the city sixty days
next preceding said election, shall be entitled to vote for City
Officers.

Sec. 8. The City Council shall have authority to levy and collect
taxes, for city purposes, upon all property, real and personal,
within the limits of the city, one-half per cent per annum, upon
the assessed value thereof, and may enforce payment of the same
in any manner, to be provided by ordinance, not repugnant to the
Constitution of the United States or of this State.

Sec. 9. The City Council shall have power to appoint a Recorder,
Treasurer, Assessor, Marshal, Supervisor of streets, and all such
other officers as may be necessary, and to prescribe their duties
and remove them from office at pleasure.

Sec. 10. The City Council shall have power to require, of all
officers appointed in pursuance of this Act, bonds, with penalty
and security, for the faithful performance of their respective
duties, such as may be deemed expedient; and also to require all
officers appointed as aforesaid, to take an oath for the faithful
performance of the duties of their respective offices.

Sec. 11. The City Council shall have power and authority to make,
ordain, establish and execute all such ordinances, not repugnant
to the Constitution of the United States or of this State, as they
may deem necessary for the peace, benefit, good order, regulation,
convenience, and cleanliness of said city: for the protection of
property therein from destruction by fire, or otherwise, and for
the health and happiness thereof: they shall have power to fill all
vacancies that may happen by death, resignation, or removal, in
any of the offices herein made elective; to fix and establish all
the fees of the office of said corporation not herein established;
to impose such fines, not exceeding one hundred dollars, for each
offense, as they may deem just, for refusing to accept any office
under the corporation, or for misconduct therein; to divide the
city into wards; to add to the number of Aldermen and Councillors,
{242} and apportion them among the several wards as may be most
just and conducive to the interests of the city.

Sec. 12. To license, tax, and regulate auctions, merchants,
retailers, grocers, hawkers, peddlers, butchers, pawnbrokers, and
money-changers.

Sec. 13. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the
city, by ordinance, to license, regulate, and restrain the keeping
of ferries; to regulate the police of the city; to impose fines,
forfeitures, and penalties for the breach of any ordinance, and
provide for the recovery of such fines and forfeitures, and the
enforcement of such penalties; and to pass such ordinances, as may
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers
specified in this Act; provided such ordinances are not repugnant
to the Constitution of the United States or of this State, and in
fine to exercise such other legislative powers as are conferred on
the City Council of the City of Springfield, by an Act entitled an
Act to Incorporate the City of Springfield, approved February 3rd,
1840.

Sec. 14. All ordinances passed by the City Council shall, within
one month after they shall have been passed, be published in some
newspaper printed in the city, or certified copies thereof be
posted up in three of the most public places in the city.

Sec. 15. All ordinances of the city may be proven by the seal of
the corporation, and when printed or published in book or pamphlet
form purporting to be printed or published by authority of the
corporation, the same shall be received in evidence in all courts
or places without further proof.

Sec. 16. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace
within the limits of said city, and shall have all the powers of
Justices of the Peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases,
arising under the laws of the State; they shall, as Justices of the
Peace, within the limits of said city, perform the same duties, be
governed by the same laws, give the same bonds and security, as
other Justices of the Peace, and be commissioned as Justices of the
Peace in and for said city by the Governor.

Sec. 17. The Mayor shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all
cases arising under the ordinances of the corporation, and shall
issue such process as may be necessary to carry such ordinances
into execution and effect; appeals may be had from any decision
or judgment of said Mayor or Aldermen, arising under the city
ordinances, to the Municipal Court, under such regulations as may
be presented by ordinance; which court shall be composed of the
Mayor as Chief Justice, and the Aldermen as Associate Justices,
and from the final judgment of the Municipal Court to the Circuit
Court of Hancock county, in the same manner of appeals {243} are
taken from judgments of the Justices of the Peace; provided that
the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by a jury of
twelve men in all cases before the Municipal Court. The Municipal
Court shall have power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases
arising under the ordinances of the City Council.

Sec. 18. The Municipal Court shall sit on the first Monday of every
month, and the City Council at such times and place as may be
prescribed by city ordinance; special meetings of which may at any
time be called by the Mayor or any two Aldermen.

Sec. 19. All process issued by the Mayor, Aldermen, or Municipal
Court, shall be directed to the Marshal, and, in the execution
thereof, he shall be governed by the same laws as are or may be
prescribed for the direction and compensation of constables in
similar cases. The Marshal shall also perform such other duties as
may be required of him under the ordinances of said city, and shall
be the principal ministerial officer.

Sec. 20. It shall be the duty of the Recorder to make and keep
accurate records of all ordinances made by the City Council, and
of all their proceedings in their corporate capacity, which record
shall at all times be open to the inspection of the electors of
said city, and shall perform such other duties as may be required
of him by the ordinances of the City Council, and shall serve as
Clerk of the Municipal Court.

Sec. 21. When it shall be necessary to take private property for
the opening, widening, or altering any public street, lane, avenue,
or alley, the corporation shall make a just compensation therefor
to the person whose property is to be taken, and if the amount of
such compensation cannot be agreed upon, the Mayor shall cause the
same to be ascertained by a jury of six disinterested freeholders
of the city.

Sec. 22. All jurors compelled to inquire into the amount of
benefits or damages that shall happen to the owners of property
so proposed to be taken, shall first be sworn to that effect, and
shall return to the Mayor their inquest in writing, signed by each
juror.

Sec. 23. In case the Mayor shall at any time be guilty of a
palpable omission of duty, or shall wilfully, and corruptly be
guilty of oppression, mal conduct, or partiality, in the discharge
of the duties of his office, he shall be liable to be indicted in
the Circuit Court of Hancock county, and on conviction he shall be
fined not more than two hundred dollars, and the Court shall have
power on the recommendation of the jury to add to the judgment of
the Court that he be removed from office.

Sec. 24. The City Council may establish and organize an institution
of learning within the limits of the city, for the teaching of
the Arts, Sciences, and Learned Professions, to be called the
"University of the City of Nauvoo," which institution shall be
under the control and {244} management of a Board of Trustees,
consisting of a Chancellor, Registrar, and twenty-three Regents,
which Board shall thereafter be a body corporate and politic, with
perpetual succession by the name of the "Chancellor and Regents of
the University of the City of Nauvoo," and shall have full power to
pass, ordain, establish, and execute, all such laws and ordinances
as they may consider necessary for the welfare and prosperity of
said University, its officers and students; provided that the said
laws and ordinances shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of
the United States, or of this State; and provided also, that the
Trustees shall at all times be appointed by the City Council, and
shall have all the powers and privileges for the advancement of the
cause of education which appertain to the Trustees of any other
College or University of this State.

Sec. 25. The City Council may organize the inhabitants of said
city, subject to military duty, into a body of independent military
men, to be called the "Nauvoo Legion," the Court Martial of which
shall be composed of the commissioned officers of said Legion,
and constitute the law-making department, with full power and
authority to make, ordain, establish, and execute all such laws
and ordinances as may be considered necessary for the benefit,
government, and regulation of said Legion; provided said Court
Martial shall pass no law or act, repugnant to, or inconsistent
with, the Constitution of the United States, or of this State; and
provided also that the officers of the Legion shall be commissioned
by the Governor of the State. The said Legion shall perform the
same amount of military duty as is now or may be hereafter required
of the regular militia of the State, and shall be at the disposal
of the Mayor in executing the laws and ordinances of the city
corporation, and the laws of the State, and at the disposal of the
Governor for the public defense, and the execution of the laws of
the State or of the United States, and shall be entitled to their
proportion of the public arms; and provided also, that said Legion
shall be exempt from all other military duty.

Sec. 26. The inhabitants of the city of Nauvoo are hereby exempted
from working on any road beyond the limits of the city, and for
the purpose of keeping the streets, lanes, avenues, and alleys in
repair, to require of the male inhabitants of said city, over the
age of twenty-one, and under fifty years, to labor on said streets,
lanes, avenues, and alleys, not exceeding three days in each year;
any person failing to perform such labor, when duly notified by the
Supervisor, shall forfeit and pay the sum of one dollar per day for
each day so neglected or refused.

Sec. 27. The City Council shall have power to provide for the
punishment of offenders by imprisonment in the county or city jail,
in all cases when such offenders shall fail or refuse to pay the
fines and forfeitures, which may be recovered against them.

{245} Sec. 28. This Act is hereby declared to be a public Act, and
shall take effect on the first Monday of February next.

Wm. L. D. Ewing,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

S. H. Anderson,

Speaker of the Senate.

Approved Dec. 16, 1840.

Thos. Carlin.

State of Illinois, Office of Secretary of State.

I, Stephen A. Douglas, Secretary of State, do hereby certify that
the foregoing is a true and perfect copy of the enrolled law now on
file in my office.

Witness my hand, and Seal of State, at Springfield, this 18th day
of December, 1840.

[L. S.]

S. A. Douglas.

Secretary of State.

The following are the Legislative powers alluded to in the 13th section of the foregoing Act, as pertaining to the City Council of the City of Springfield, and which consequently became a part of the Charter of the City of Nauvoo, to wit:

_Of the Legislative Powers of the City Council_.

Sec. 1. The City Council shall have powers and authority to levy
and collect taxes upon all property, real and personal, within
the city, not exceeding one-half per cent., per annum, upon the
assessed valuation thereof, and may enforce the payment of the
same in any manner prescribed by ordinance, not repugnant to the
Constitution of the United States and of this State.

Sec. 2. The City Council shall have power to require of all
officers appointed in pursuance of the Charters, bonds with penalty
and security for the faithful performance of their respective
duties as may be deemed expedient, and also to require all
officers appointed as aforesaid, to take an oath for the faithful
performance of the duties of their respective offices upon entering
upon the discharge of the same.

Sec. 3. To establish, support, and regulate common schools, to
borrow money on the credit of the city; provided, that no sum or
sums of money shall be borrowed at a greater interest than six per
cent per annum, nor shall the interest on the aggregate of all the
sums borrowed and outstanding ever exceed one half of the city
revenue, arising for taxes assessed on real property within the
corporation.

{246} Sec. 4. To make regulations to prevent the introduction of
contagious diseases into the city, to make Quarantine Laws for that
purpose, and enforce the same.

Sec. 5. To appropriate and provide for the payment of the debt and
expenses of the city.

Sec. 6. To establish hospitals, and make regulations for the
government of the same.

Sec. 7. To make regulations to secure the general health of the
inhabitants, to declare what shall be a nuisance, and to prevent
and remove the same.

Sec. 8. To provide the city with water, to dig wells and erect
pumps in the streets for the extinguishment of fires, and
convenience of the inhabitants.

Sec. 9. To open, alter, widen, extend, establish, grade, pave, or
otherwise improve and keep in repair streets, avenues, lanes, and
alleys.

Sec. 10. To establish, erect, and keep in repair bridges.

Sec. 11. To divide the city into wards, and specify the boundaries
thereof, and create additional wards, as the occasion may require.

Sec. 12. To provide for lighting the streets and erecting lamp
posts.

Sec. 13. To establish, support, and regulate night watches.

Sec. 14. To erect market houses, establish markets, and market
places, and provide for the government and regulation thereof.

Sec. 15. To provide for erecting all needful buildings for the use
of the city.

Sec. 16. To provide for enclosing, improving, and regulating all
public grounds belonging to the city.

Sec. 17. To license, tax, and regulate auctioneers, merchants, and
retailers, grocers, taverns ordinaries, hawkers, peddlers, brokers,
pawnbrokers, and money changers.

Sec. 18. To license, tax, and regulate hackney carriages, wagons,
carts and drays, and fix the rates to be charged for the carriage
of persons, and for the wagonage, cartage and drayage of property.

Sec. 19. To license and regulate porters and fix the rates of
porterage.

Sec. 20. To license and regulate theatrical and other exhibitions,
shows and amusements.

Sec. 21. To tax, restrain, prohibit, and suppress, tippling houses,
dram shops, gaming houses, bawdy and other disorderly houses.

Sec. 22. To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires,
and to organize and establish fire companies.

Sec. 23. To regulate the fixing of chimneys, and the flues thereof,
and stove pipes.

{247} Sec. 24. To regulate the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch,
rosin, and other combustible materials.

Sec. 25. To regulate and order parapet walls, and partition fences.

Sec. 26. To establish standard weights and measures, and regulate
the weights and measures to be used in the city in all other cases
not provided for by law.

Sec. 27. To provide for the inspection and measuring of lumber and
other building materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of
mechanical work.

Sec. 28. To provide for the inspection and weighing of hay, lime,
and stone coal, the measuring of charcoal, firewood, and other
fuel, to be sold or used within the city.

Sec. 29. To provide for and regulate the inspection of tobacco, and
of beef, pork, flour, meal, and whiskey in barrels.

Sec. 30. To regulate the weight, quality, and price of bread, sold,
and used in the city.

Sec. 31. To provide for taking the enumeration of the inhabitants
of the city.

Sec. 32. To regulate the election of city officers, and provide
for removing from office any person holding an office created by
ordinance.

Sec. 33. To fix the compensation of all city officers, and regulate
the fees of jurors, witnesses, and others, for services rendered
under this Act or any ordinance.

Sec. 34. To regulate the police of the city, to impose fines,
and forfeitures, and penalties, for the breach of any ordinance,
and provide for the recovery and appropriation of such fines and
forfeitures, and the enforcement of such penalties.

Sec. 35. The City Council shall have exclusive power within
the city by ordinance, to license, regulate, and suppress, and
restrain, billiard tables, and from one to twenty pin alleys, and
every other description of gaming or gambling.

Sec. 36. The City Council shall have power to make all ordinances
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution
the powers specified in this Act, so that such ordinances be not
repugnant to nor inconsistent with, the constitution of the United
States or of this state.

Sec. 37. The style of the ordinances of the city shall be--"Be it
ordained by the city council of the city of Springfield--[Nauvoo]."

Sec. 38. All ordinances passed by the city council shall, within
one month after they shall have been passed, be published in some
newspaper published in the city, and shall not be in force until
they shall have been published as aforesaid.

Sec. 39. All ordinances of the city may be proven by the seal of
the {248} corporation, and when printed and published by authority
of the corporation, the same shall be received in evidence in all
courts and places without further proof.

John C. Bennett who had been delegated to Springfield to carry our petition for a City Charter, announced the passage of the bill, as follows--

_Letter of John C. Bennett to the "Times and Seasons"--Announcing
the passage of the act incorporating Nauvoo_.

City Of Springfield, December 16, 1840.

_Editors of the Times and Seasons_:

The act incorporating the city of Nauvoo has just passed the
council of revision, and is now a law of the land, to take effect
and be in force from and after the first Monday in February
next. The aforesaid act contains two additional charters--one
incorporating the "Nauvoo Legion," the other the "University of the
city of Nauvoo."

All these charters are very broad and liberal, conferring the most
plenary powers on the corporators. Illinois has acquitted herself
with honor, and her state legislators shall never be forgotten.
Every power we asked has been granted, every request gratified,
every desire fulfilled. In the senate Mr. Little cancelled every
obligation to our people, and faithfully, and honestly, and with
untiring diligence, discharged every obligation devolving upon him
as our immediate representative in the Upper House. Mark well that
man, and do him honor. Snyder, and Ralston, and Moore, and Ross,
and Stapp, and numerous others, likewise in that branch of our
state government, rendered as very essential services; and the act
passed that body without a dissenting voice.

In the House of Representatives, Charles, our immediate
Representative in the Lower House, was at his post and discharged
his duty as a faithful representative; he is an acting, and not
a talking man, and has fulfilled all his obligations to us. Many
members in this house, likewise, were warmly in our favor; and with
only one or two dissenting voices, every representative appeared
inclined to extend to us all such powers as they considered us
justly entitled to, and voted for the law; and here I should not
forget to mention, that Lincoln, [2] whose name we erased from the
electoral ticket in November (not however on account of any dislike
to him as a man, but simply because his was the last name on the
ticket, and we desired to show our friendship to the Democratic
{249} party by substituting the name of Ralston for some one of the
Whigs) had the magnanimity to vote for our act, and came forward,
after the final vote to the bar of the house, and cordially
congratulated me on its passage.

Our worthy governor is certainly disposed to do us ample justice in
every respect, and to extend to us every facility for our future
happiness and prosperity.

Illinois has certainly done her duty, and her whole duty; and now
it becomes us to show ourselves upright, honest, just, worthy of
the favors bestowed by noble, generous, and magnanimous statesmen,
I have said that we are a law-abiding people, and we must now show
it. The state has washed her hands in granting all our petitions,
and if we do not now show ourselves approved, the curse must fall
upon our own heads. Justice, equal justice, should be our fixed
object and purpose, and the Great God will prosper us; length of
days will be in our right hand, and in our left, glory and honor.

Yours, &c.,

John C. Bennett.

The City Charter of Nauvoo is of my own plan and device. I concocted it for the salvation of the Church, and on principles so broad, that every honest man might dwell secure under its protective influence without distinction of sect or party.

Footnotes:

1. Elder Taylor was also opposed by Rev. Thomas Hamilton, whom he met in a public debate and easily vanquished. "No great honor, however," says Elder Taylor in his account of the affair, "as he was a very ignorant man." Elder Taylor secured for his meeting place the Wellington rooms, and from the platform he answered all who opposed him, and succeeded, despite all opposition, in organizing a branch of the Church in Douglas.

2. This doubtless refers to Abraham Lincoln who was then a member of the legislature. See Nicolay and Hay's _Abraham Lincoln_, Vol. I, p. 42 _et seq_.

{250}