Full Text of HJR0088 94th General Assembly
HJ0088 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln advanced a proposal in | 3 |
| the closing weeks of 1861 for federal support for gradual, | 4 |
| compensated emancipation, through action of the legislatures | 5 |
| of the border states, but which failed due to lack of | 6 |
| sufficient support in those states; and
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| WHEREAS, On July 22, 1862, at a cabinet meeting, President | 8 |
| Lincoln announced that, on the basis of his power as Commander | 9 |
| in Chief, he proposed to issue a proclamation freeing all | 10 |
| slaves in Confederate held territory as of January 1, 1863, if | 11 |
| the rebels did not rejoin the Union by that date, with or | 12 |
| without the consent of his cabinet; however, he agreed to put a | 13 |
| hold on issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation | 14 |
| until Union forces had won a significant battle, which the | 15 |
| federal forces did at Antietam, Maryland, on September 17, | 16 |
| 1862, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War; and
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| WHEREAS, President Lincoln then issued, on September 22, | 18 |
| 1862, the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and on | 19 |
| December 29, 1862, he presented the final draft of the | 20 |
| Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet; and | 21 |
| WHEREAS, President Lincoln later became convinced of the | 22 |
| need for a constitutional amendment banning slavery to assure | 23 |
| that emancipation remained secure after the conclusion of the | 24 |
| war, which led to the introduction in the United States Senate | 25 |
| of the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery; and
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| WHEREAS, The full meaning of the Emancipation Proclamation | 27 |
| emerged when, on April 8, 1864, the United States Senate passed | 28 |
| the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery; it failed, | 29 |
| initially, to get the required two-thirds majority in the | 30 |
| United States House of Representatives, due to the obstruction | 31 |
| of Democrats, but public pressure forced enough Democrats to |
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| change their votes, so that the House ratified the amendment on | 2 |
| January 31, 1865; and
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| WHEREAS, Several months after President Lincoln's | 4 |
| assassination, the Thirteen Amendment, outlawing slavery, was | 5 |
| declared adopted on December 18, 1865, when it had been | 6 |
| ratified by the legislatures of 27 of the then 36 states; and
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| WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly wishes to adopt this | 8 |
| resolution as an acknowledgement of the significance of Abraham | 9 |
| Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to our nation and the | 10 |
| world; and
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| WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln lived in Illinois throughout his | 12 |
| adult life, except while serving our nation as its 16th | 13 |
| President; and
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| WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln served the State of Illinois | 15 |
| through four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives and | 16 |
| one term in the United States House of Representatives; and
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| WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln helped found the Illinois | 18 |
| Republican Party and twice ran for a seat in the United States | 19 |
| Senate; and
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| WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was twice elected as President of | 21 |
| the United States and served our nation in that capacity from | 22 |
| March 4, 1861, until his death, as the result of assassination, | 23 |
| on April 15, 1865; and | 24 |
| WHEREAS, The Emancipation Proclamation led to the freedom | 25 |
| of four million slaves, the subsequent broadening of the right | 26 |
| to vote to more Americans, and advanced the cause of human | 27 |
| rights in the world; and
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| WHEREAS, On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the |
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| final, corrected version of the Emancipation Proclamation; and
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| WHEREAS, The Emancipation Proclamation changed the dynamic | 3 |
| of the war by turning the federal armies into agents of | 4 |
| liberation and by giving slaves a direct and vital interest in | 5 |
| the defeat of the Confederate States; and
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| WHEREAS, Emancipation enormously raised the stature of the | 7 |
| Union cause internationally; by turning the Civil War into a | 8 |
| war against slavery, President Lincoln attracted to the Union's | 9 |
| side workers and progressive-minded people all over the world; | 10 |
| it greatly complicated the position of those governments, such | 11 |
| as that in Great Britain, that were considering intervention on | 12 |
| the side of the Confederacy; and
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| WHEREAS, The Emancipation Proclamation managed to | 14 |
| destabilize slavery even where it still technically remained | 15 |
| legal; in Missouri and Tennessee, areas exempted from the | 16 |
| Emancipation Proclamation, slaves deserted plantations en | 17 |
| masse; and
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| WHEREAS, Slavery was further undermined by President | 19 |
| Lincoln's decision, spelled out in the Emancipation | 20 |
| Proclamation, to recruit black soldiers into the Union army; | 21 |
| the Union eventually recruited 200,000 African Americans, who | 22 |
| served on many fronts; and
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| WHEREAS, The Emancipation Proclamation laid the basis for | 24 |
| the Union victory in 1865 and led to the ratification of the | 25 |
| Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery as a socio-political | 26 |
| system; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 28 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 29 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the first week of January in | 30 |
| 2007 shall be known as Emancipation Proclamation Week to |
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| recognize the enormous importance of the Emancipation | 2 |
| Proclamation authored by Illinois' Abraham Lincoln, then | 3 |
| President of the United States, and signed into effect on | 4 |
| January 1, 1863; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That schools and other institutions in our State | 6 |
| are encouraged to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation and | 7 |
| educate our young people about its historical significance.
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