SJ0039 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0039 LRB095 11658 KXB 33842 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The series of debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln in their 1858 bid for an Illinois United States Senate seat is a significant example of the role of public discussion and debate of issues by candidates before the electorate; and

WHEREAS, 2008 will mark the 150th anniversary of what is now seen as the greatest political debates in the United States in the nineteenth century, leading to the eventual election of Abraham Lincoln to the office of President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, The seven Illinois communities which hosted the original debates are Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton, meeting together as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial Collation, and with the assistance of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, are making coordinated and comprehensive plans for fitting commemorative activities during the Sesquicentennial year, including: traveling museum exhibits, a program of Lincoln and Douglas portrayers to present background on the debates, with a modern political context as a means of explication for today's citizens that is to be presented in the seven debates cities, plus Springfield, Chicago, and Bement, a coordinated calendar of activities to be promulgated to the general public through a single brochure and a single website, the issuance of commemorative collector coins, and the hosting of a commemorative national high school debate tournament; and

WHEREAS, Several State agencies, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Governor's Rural Affairs Council, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, as well as the Lincoln-Douglas Society, the Stephen A. Douglas Association, the Abraham Lincoln Association, the National Forensic League, the Illinois High School Association, and the Illinois Speech and Theater Association, have already engaged in assisting the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial Collation in planning activities for the Sesquicentennial year; and

WHEREAS, A well-coordinated series of activities and programs during 2008 will serve as preliminary attractions for tourism in and to Illinois in anticipation of the 2009 programming being planned for the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall be designated as the agency within the State's executive branch to work with the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial Collation for the purposes of further planning and implementation of Sesquicentennial activities and recommending to the Illinois General Assembly such budgets and funding requests as shall be deemed appropriate to insure the smooth implementation of the previously developed, as well as any future plans for commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Governor's Rural Affairs Council, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, as well as the Lincoln-Douglas Society, the Stephen A. Douglas Association, the Abraham Lincoln Association, the National Forensic League, the Illinois High School Association, and the Illinois Speech and Theater Association, as well as to all of the constitutional officers of the State of Illinois, and the Governor's Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.