Petition of Nathaniel Niles and Others to Sidney Breese and Others, [8 January 1844]1
GREAT WESTERN MAIL ROUTE.
THE mail from Boston and New York via the National Road, through Wheeling, comes in ten or twelve days to Springfield—when it comes to Lafayette, on the Wabash, 160 miles from this place, in five days. It is suggested that the citizens of Springfield, and the populous towns proceed
to call public meetings and petition Congress to extend the great mail route from Lafayette direct through Danville, Decatur, to Springfield, when it can be brought here in thirty-six hours, to the great benefit of the whole Western Country!!!
We, the undersigned, citizens of Illinois, believing the above statement correct, do most respectfully petition our delegation
in Congress to bring in a bill to establish the above mail route, under the direction
of the Post Master General.2
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28th Cong[Congress]
1 Sess[Session].
Petition of citizens of Illinois for a mail route from Lafayette to Springfield
1 Sess[Session].
Petition of citizens of Illinois for a mail route from Lafayette to Springfield
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01/08/1844
01/08/1844
1844 Jan 8. Referred to the Comee[Committee] on the Post Office and Post Roads.
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8
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Petition of citizens of Illinois for the Great Western Mail Route extension–
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11
Breese
pass off
Breese
pass off
2The Illinois Congressional delegation in 1844 included Sidney Breese, Stephen A. Douglas, Orlando B. Ficklin, John J. Hardin, Joseph P. Hoge, John A. McClernand, James Semple, Robert Smith, and John Wentworth.
Printed Document Signed, 2 page(s), Vault, RG 46, Entry 401: Records of the United States Senate, Twenty-Eighth Congress, 1843-1845, Records of Legislative Proceedings, Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to Committees, 1843-1845, NAB.