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1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 39
2
(As Amended by Senate Amendment No. 1)

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

 

 

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

 

 

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