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1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The series of debates between Stephen A. Douglas
3 and Abraham Lincoln in their 1858 bid for an Illinois United
4 States Senate seat is a significant example of the role of
5 public discussion and debate of issues by candidates before the
6 electorate; and
 
7     WHEREAS, 2008 will mark the 150th anniversary of what is
8 now seen as the greatest political debates in the United States
9 in the nineteenth century, leading to the eventual election of
10 Abraham Lincoln to the office of President of the United
11 States; and
 
12     WHEREAS, The seven Illinois communities which hosted the
13 original debates are Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston,
14 Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton, meeting together as the
15 Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial Collation, and with
16 the assistance of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition,
17 are making coordinated and comprehensive plans for fitting
18 commemorative activities during the Sesquicentennial year,
19 including: traveling museum exhibits, a program of Lincoln and
20 Douglas portrayers to present background on the debates, with a
21 modern political context as a means of explication for today's
22 citizens that is to be presented in the seven debates cities,
23 plus Springfield, Chicago, and Bement, a coordinated calendar

 

 

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1 of activities to be promulgated to the general public through a
2 single brochure and a single website, the issuance of
3 commemorative collector coins, and the hosting of a
4 commemorative national high school debate tournament; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Several State agencies, the Abraham Lincoln
6 Presidential Library and Museum, the Governor's Rural Affairs
7 Council, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, and the Illinois
8 Historic Preservation Agency, as well as the Lincoln-Douglas
9 Society, the Stephen A. Douglas Association, the Abraham
10 Lincoln Association, the National Forensic League, the
11 Illinois High School Association, and the Illinois Speech and
12 Theater Association, have already engaged in assisting the
13 Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial Collation in planning
14 activities for the Sesquicentennial year; and
 
15     WHEREAS, A well-coordinated series of activities and
16 programs during 2008 will serve as preliminary attractions for
17 tourism in and to Illinois in anticipation of the 2009
18 programming being planned for the bicentennial of Abraham
19 Lincoln's birth; therefore, be it
 
20     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
21 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
22 CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois Department of Commerce and
23 Economic Opportunity shall be designated as the agency within

 

 

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1 the State's executive branch to work with the Lincoln-Douglas
2 Debates Sesquicentennial Collation for the purposes of further
3 planning and implementation of Sesquicentennial activities and
4 recommending to the Illinois General Assembly such budgets and
5 funding requests as shall be deemed appropriate to insure the
6 smooth implementation of the previously developed, as well as
7 any future plans for commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the
8 Lincoln-Douglas Debates in Illinois; and be it further
 
9     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
10 transmitted to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
11 Museum, the Governor's Rural Affairs Council, the Illinois
12 Bureau of Tourism, and the Illinois Historic Preservation
13 Agency, as well as the Lincoln-Douglas Society, the Stephen A.
14 Douglas Association, the Abraham Lincoln Association, the
15 National Forensic League, the Illinois High School
16 Association, and the Illinois Speech and Theater Association,
17 as well as to all of the constitutional officers of the State
18 of Illinois, and the Governor's Illinois Abraham Lincoln
19 Bicentennial Commission.