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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, For almost a century, the written history of the
3State of Illinois was formed under the French flag; and
 
4    WHEREAS, French monetary grants, ships, officers, men,
5arms, and supplies ensured the success of the American
6Revolution; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Marquis de Lafayette, a French army officer,
8outfitted, crewed, and supplied a French ship he named Victory
9at his own expense; he then sailed the vessel to South Carolina
10in support of the American Revolution, arriving in June of
111777; and
 
12    WHEREAS, After arriving in the colonies, Marquis de
13Lafayette was appointed to serve as an aide to General George
14Washington; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Marquis de Lafayette was appointed as a major
16general of American militia troops by General Washington; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Marquis de Lafayette was wounded by British musket
18fire while fighting alongside General Washington during the
19Battle of Brandywine in 1777; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, This gallant French officer became a war hero in
2both France and the newly-formed United States; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Of all the leading heroes of the American
4Revolution, Marquis de Lafayette's name ranks fourth in the
5most common geographical site names in the United States, after
6George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson;
7and
 
8    WHEREAS, Following the birth of his first-born son on
9Christmas Eve of 1779, Marquis de Lafayette named the child
10George Washington Lafayette in honor of his friend and
11brother-in-arms; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Marquis de Lafayette revisited the United States
13and the State of Illinois at the invitation of President James
14Monroe in 1824; during his visit, he was offered citizenship by
15numerous U.S. states; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Marquis de Lafayette was the author of the French
17Declaration of the Rights of Man, a document based upon the
18Declaration of Independence; he was also the man who ordered
19the destruction of the hated French Bastille during the French
20Revolution; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In honor of Marquis de Lafayette, U.S. soldiers

 

 

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1during World War I created the battle cry, "Lafayette, we are
2here"; therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
5we designate June 7, 2011 as a fete a jour day in honor of
6Marquis de Lafayette and his courageous efforts to help our
7nation gain independence.