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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The Honorable Barack Obama of Illinois was elected
3 the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008;
4 and
 
5     WHEREAS, Although other Illinoisans have been elected to
6 the nation's highest office, Barack Obama is the first person,
7 since Abraham Lincoln, to be elected President of the United
8 States while a citizen of Illinois; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Barack Obama served in the Illinois General
10 Assembly as a State Senator from 1997 until 2005; and
 
11     WHEREAS, The Republican side of the aisle in the Chamber of
12 the Illinois House of Representatives is marked by a portrait
13 of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican and Illinoisan to
14 serve as President of the United States; and
 
15     WHEREAS, The Democratic side of the aisle in the Chamber of
16 the Illinois House of Representatives is marked by a portrait
17 of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln's political rival, who
18 defeated Lincoln in a race for the United States Senate in
19 Illinois in 1858, and who was an important leader of Illinois
20 Democrats in the antebellum period; and
 

 

 

HR0016 - 2 - LRB096 03131 JDS 13147 r

1     WHEREAS, Although Senator Douglas received his party's
2 nomination for President of the United States in the 1860
3 election, he was not elected to that post; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Other Illinoisans have sought, unsuccessfully,
5 the office of President of the United States in the period
6 since the Lincoln administration; and
 
7     WHEREAS, the election of a President from our State is a
8 rare event of epic importance; therefore, be it
 
9     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
10 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that a
11 portrait of President Barack Obama should be commissioned to
12 replace the portrait of Senator Douglas and to serve as a
13 visible marker of the Democratic side of the aisle in the
14 Chamber of the Illinois House of Representatives; and be it
15 further
 
16     RESOLVED, That the portrait of Senator Douglas should be
17 moved to another appropriate and dignified location within the
18 Illinois State Capitol, where it will continue to be displayed
19 in tribute to Senator Douglas's position as a historical figure
20 of the utmost importance in the development of the American
21 nation.